A Chance Meeting
by DrewXIII
Summary: Ichigo has spent most of his time being alone and now it's getting to him. After literally running into a certain raven haired girl, will she be the one to finally turn his scowls into smiles?
1. Accidental Introductions

A/N: Finally, I got an idea for a new story and here it is. After watching countless Ichigo and Rukia AMV's, I am finally struck with inspiration. I'm reusing the same title from a previous dicontinued fic I had. I hope you guys still like it though, and please review. If I don't get reviews, I'll get the idea that this thing sucks and I might think otherwise of continuing it. (For real)

Chapter 1

Accidental Introductions

Late afternoon, the loud dismissal bells of Karakura High sound off signaling the end of a typical school day. It was then followed by the crowd of students charging through the entrance door like a pack of elephants in a stampede. One of the students certainly stuck out in the crowd, familiar for the scowl on his face and his obvious bright orange spiky hair.

_Finally, the end of the day… _this particular student thought.

His name is Ichigo Kurasaki, you're typical high school freshman. Anyways, I'm skipping the long boring and a total "waste-of-my-time" character introduction since you readers all know who the main character of _Bleach _is. If not, then I'm afraid you'll find some difficulty in reading this story.

Moving on, he quietly walked past the entrance gates even though the rest of the other students were storming out of the campus in a hurry. His entire destination was home and he's taking his time to get there, having your own dad constantly attacking you will have you thinking the same way if you ask me.

Indulged deep in his thoughts, the orange-head gave a long sigh as he continued strolling down the streets of the city of Karakura.

_Things had been real boring lately,_

_Maybe I shouldn't spend my time always being alone,_

_Dad could be right; I should find a friend that I could talk to from time to time._

…

_Dad? Right about something?_

_Ha, I must be starting to lose it._

He laughed to himself about the irony he just came up with but deep down he still couldn't shake the feeling. The feeling of being alone and he was clearly starting to get sick of it. Ichigo tried his best to keep his mind occupied with something else…

_I wonder what's for dinner for tonight. _

_Yuzu is never a bad cook so I shouldn't really worry._

_Are Tatsuki and Orihime doing anything today?_

_Ah, what do I care about them?_

_Did I finish my homework for today?_

_Damn, we don't have any homework._

_Is Ishida still mad at me for making fun of his sewing?_

_I'm guessing "yes"_

_Did Chad say something today?_

…

_Never mind._

No use, no matter what he does the loneliness kept haunting him. The fifteen year old was so busy wandering in his head that he didn't pay any attention to were he was going. He made a blind turn around the corner out of instinct considering he regularly does, only a few blocks till his house, when…

"LOOK OUT!" cried a girl riding her bicycle.

**CRASH!!!**

Ichigo was sent flying then crashing down to the hard pavement head first. The raven-haired girl collided with our familiar orange-headed friend, lucky for her that she was on a bicycle, Ichigo…well, not so lucky, ...poor guy (or maybe not so poor if you ask me).

"Oh my God!" she panicked seeing that he was knocked out cold and is now bleeding through a cut on his forehead. Soon a strange young man wearing a green and white stripped hat walked up to the two. He saw the accident from a far and thought he could give a helping hand.

"Tsk tsk….looks like he's in pretty bad shape." He said looking down. "If you hurry there's a small clinic a block from here." He pointed out in the direction he was mentioning.

"There is!" The girl said with joy and relief, she then looked to see that the mysterious stranger had left the scene.

_Well, at least he pointed out were the clinic was… _she thought.

The raven-haired girl took up the unconscious orange-haired student on her shoulders and started carrying him to the aforementioned clinic.

_Man, this guy is heavy. S_he struggled over his weight a bit.

It wasn't long till she got there, as soon as she did she immediately asked for help.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SON!" the doctor shouted out after hearing her.

"Sorry sir, we were kind'a in a little accident and…" she tried to explain.

"Karin! Yuzu! Find a bed now!!!" he ordered loudly while the helpful girl simply stood there dumb-folded.

_His son? Talk about coincidence, I hope he doesn't get mad at me or anything…_

The doctor then took the orange-haired boy from her and immediately preceded him in a room. The raven-haired girl felt a bit responsible for this disaster so she thought it was right to wait to see if he'd recover. A couple of minutes pass and the doctor emerged from Ichigo's room.

"Well, it's nothing serious, just a cut on the head. Damn that boy better be careful next time." he complained while throwing some used bandages in the trash bin. "And I think I have you to thank for getting him here, what's you're name little miss?" he asked.

"Rukia, sir. Rukia Kuchiki." She said.

To Be Continued…

A/N: well? Do you guys like it? If "yes" then please leave a review to increase the chances of this story being updated. Thank you.


	2. More Than You Bargained For

A/N: I'm glad you guys liked it. Here it is Chapter 2 coming your way, slightly out-of-control and just down-right a chaotic chapter here, I'm trying my best to capture the hilarious carnage of _Bleach_, just review ok?

Chapter 2

More Than You Bargained For

"Rukia, sir, Rukia Kuchiki." She said to the good doctor.

"Pleasure to meet you Rukia, I'm Isshin Kurosaki and the sappy young lad you rescued is my son, Ichigo." He replied. "Feel free to check up on him if you like but I got other patients to tend to." He then disappeared into a different room.

_Ichigo, huh? Strange name for a guy, well, he is kind of handsome…I-I mean, I better go see if he's alright._

Rukia proceeded into Ichigo's room to see him peacefully lying on the bed with his forehead wrapped up with some bandages. She walked a bit closer to him to get better look. She could see his chest move up and down in rhythm because of his breathing. Out of worry and deep concern, her face edged closer to his.

_I hope he's okay…man, I really should be a lot more careful on my bike._

Soon, Ichigo started to regain some consciousness. He shrugged a bit then slowly opened his eyes…only to see a raven-haired girl staring right up his face.

"AGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" he screamed forcing Rukia to back away from him. "Who are you?! Where am I?! And why the hell does my head hurt?!" he got up from his bed and started barraging the girl with a truck-load of questions.

"What is your problem?!" Rukia shouted back at him, she got a bit annoyed of his constant rambling. "Here I am trying to make it up after accidentally running you over with my bike and-"

"Oh, so it was you who tried to kill me!" he cut her off and started accusing her.

"Yeah and I would've finished the job if I knew you were such a big jerk!" she shouted.

"OH I'M A JERK AREN'T I?" he growled.

"YES YOU ARE!" she growled as well, their volume was starting to increase as if it was shaking the entire Kurosaki residence.

"Oiy, what's going on in here?" Isshin walked into the room after over hearing all the commotion. Yuzu and Karin followed in as well in concern for their brother.

"What's going on? Is Ichigo alright?" Yuzu asked. All they saw was Ichigo and Rukia staring down and shouting at each other menacingly.

"YOU CRAZY LITTLE BRAT TRYING TO RUN ME OVER!"

"YOU INCONSIDERATE, UNGRATEFUL IDIOT!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE?!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE!"

"This is getting a bit out of hand." Karin said with very little care.

"We better stop those two before things get serious." Yuzu suggested. Meanwhile beside the two, tears were running down Isshin's face.

"Dad, are you alright?" Yuzu asked after noticing.

"Is he crying?" Karin asked as well.

"I think so." Yuzu answered, the two looked at their estranged father.

"Oh, Karin, Yuzu…" he said with a happy-go-lucky smile while tears were still running down his face. "I'm just so proud…"

"I'm just proud that my son has finally found a girlfriend." He crouched down and cried over Yuzu's shoulder.

"Give me a break." Karin said looking at their dad was acting like a complete child.

"HEY! SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND, DAD!" Ichigo yelled out after over-hearing.

"I'D RATHER DIE THAN TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS WEIRDO!" Rukia shouted out as well. The two then gave each other death glares again. "Agh! I'm not going to waste any more of my time arguing with you!" The raven-haired girl growled at the orange-head. "I'm leaving!"

"Well good!" the high school student said. Rukia then stormed off the Kurosaki residence.

"I'm glad that's over…dad would you stop crying?!" Yuzu said with her father still sobbing at her shoulder. "And Ichigo go back to bed, you're still hurt."

"I'm fine, no thanks to that little brat." He pointed out,

"Hey, her name is Rukia!" Isshin said getting up from his knees all of the sudden. "And for your information, boy, she was the one who brought you here after your accident."

Ichigo was a bit shocked after hearing the words that just came out of his father's mouth.

_She was the one who brought me here?_ He thought.

School the next day…

"Hey Ichigo I heard you got into an accident after school yesterday." Ichigo's familiar friend, Keigo, asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah what happened?" Another of Ichigo's friends, Mizuiro, added.

"Ichigo…are you…alright?" Chad asked in a stoic manner towering over the group.

"Look you guys I'm fine, just a scratch on the head, nothing serious." The orange-haired boy said to relieve his fellow classmates.

"Hey check out the new girl in class," Keigo pointed out for the group to see.

_New girl?_

Ichigo's two eyes seemed about to pop out of its socket after seeing who it was.

"Uh…hello, my name is Rukia, and I'll be in this class from…" she said shyly but stopped after seeing a certain someone.

_Ichigo? Oh…my…God…_

"AAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!! YOU!" Ichigo screamed and pointed at the raven-haired girl.

"You two know each other?" Mizuiro asked over his classmates actions.

"What are talking about, I haven't seen him before in my entire life." Rukia decided to play dumb to escape the upcoming embarrassment.

_Oh no you don't Kurosaki, this is my first day of school and I'm not going to let you screw it up._

"Yeah, yeah, I must've got her confused with somebody else I know, nope, I don't know who the hell she is." Ichigo decided to play like he doesn't know her as well.

"I'm Rukia Kuchiki," the raven-girl stretched out her hand for a hand shake, making it look like they were meeting for the first time.

"I-I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." He forced a smile on his face and shook her hand.

_God…why have you forsaken me? _Both Rukia and Ichigo thought in unison.

A/N: I bit of confusing, I know, but I hope you guys like it. Please review.


	3. Getting to Know People

A/N: Sorry for the really long delay on the update, whenever I tried uploading this file, errors kept popping up. Anyways, here's the chapter. I hope you guys like it and please review.

Chapter 3

Getting to Know People

"And to here I thought I saw the last of you yesterday…" Ichigo complained.

"I'm just as annoyed about this as you are." Rukia added. The two were quietly walking together around Karakura High School; Ichigo was showing Rukia around the school since she was new and all.

_I can't believe I'm doing this…_he scowled from the back of his mind.

Several minutes later, "There, got any questions?" Ichigo asked, finishing up his little tour.

"Not at all..." Rukia replied, she didn't want to argue with him at the moment, considering she was a bit grateful for having him volunteer to do this. "…Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He replied while scratching the back of his head for no reason.

"Hello Ichigo." The two were suddenly greeted by Orihime accompanied by Tatsuki.

"Oiy Orimihe, Tatsuki." Ichigo greeted casually. "Oh, this is Rukia Kuchiki, she's new in the school." He introduced while Rukia just gave a smile and wave.

"Nice to meet you." The petite girl added.

The group was then interrupted when the school bell rang signaling that the students' next classes will begin shortly.

"Pleasure to meet you Rukia, me and Orihime are going to have to go now, bye. See ya Ichigo." Tatsuki declared she and Orihime soon walked into their respective classes.

"Bye." Ichigo and Rukia said in unison creating a rather awkward moment for the two.

"Your next class is over there, third on the left." Ichigo pointed out for Rukia.

"Oh, uh…thanks." She said looking down finding herself lost in words.

"Well, hurry up now or else you're going to be late." The orange-head reminded her before proceeding to his class.

_He really isn't such a bad guy…_Rukia thought.

It wasn't long until school ended and Ichigo eventually emerged from the school entrance doors.

_Ok, this time I'm going to watch were I'm going…_

"Hey, Ichigo." Somebody called out from behind the orange-haired 15-year old. He turned to see Rukia walking up to him. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"Oh…to the Urahara shop." He answered.

"What's that?" she asked again but this time with a raised brow in confusion.

"It's where I work, you can come if you like." He said with his usual scowl. He then started strolling to his destination with Rukia behind him.

(The readers could be going, "Ichigo works at the Urahara shop? That is so lame!" right now. Well, at least continue reading to see what I have planned for our odd couple, ok?)

During the walk to the shop, there was an awkward silence that kept haunting the two high school students. Strange as it is, it couldn't help but bother them.

"Look Ichigo…" Rukia broke the silence; Ichigo looked at her to see what it was about.

"I know we kind of got into a bad start and all..." She started.

"What are you trying to say?" he asked while keeping the same scowl on his face.

"I'm just saying sorry, you know." She apologized.

"For running me over yesterday, forget about it, I'm sure you didn't mean to." He said, making it sound that it wasn't a big deal for him.

Rukia looked away in the other direction; she felt that there was much more for her to say but the words just wouldn't come out.

_Why am I feeling this way?_

_Is there something wrong?_

"We're here." Ichigo said, waking Rukia from her thoughts. They stood in front of a humble wooden built shop peacefully nestled in a quiet district of the city. They then walked inside to see an assortment of different items displayed across the room and standing at the end was the shopkeeper looking at the two.

"Mr. Kurosaki, I see you've recovered quite fast from you're little accident." A blonde man wearing a green and white stripped hat said.

"Oh yeah, it was just…wait a minute, how'd the hell did you know I was in an accident?!" Ichigo realized all of the sudden.

"And I see you've got a girlfriend as well." He pointed out, swinging the cane he was holding a bit.

"You're the one who told me where the clinic was yesterday." Rukia said with surprise after recognizing. "...but you disappeared before I got a chance to thank you and everything. I'm Rukia Kuchiki." She introduced herself.

"…and she's not my girlfriend, okay?" Ichigo added.

_Damn it, why does everybody keep saying that we're in a relationship? Well, we're not and I don't think ever will be…_

"I'm Kisuke Urahara and welcome to the Urahara shop, see anything you like?" the shopkeeper introduced himself as well. Then a tall, rather slightly muscular man walked in the room, most notably he was wearing black sunglasses and an apron.

"Mr. Urahara, the new shipment has arrived." He said with respect.

"Thank you, Tessai." Kisuke answered. He then turned his attention back to Ichigo and Rukia. "You can get started Ichigo, I'll be handling some private matters, a pleasure to meet you Ms. Kuchiki," he bade a farewell before disappearing along with Tessai.

Ichigo then walked behind a counter and put on an apron similar to what Tessai was wearing. "It's not much, but at least I get a decent pay." He stated. "So you met Mr. Hat and Clogs before?" he asked Rukia.

"Yeah, he was the one that told me to take you to your dad's clinic after our little mishap yesterday." She explained while browsing some of the shop's items for sale.

"Hmm…I figure, Urahara is always there when I need him, problem is he never really helps at all." The orange-head joked making Rukia laugh a bit.

"Oh, I got to go!" The raven-haired girl said alarmingly after looking over her watch. "See you tomorrow, Ichigo." She then took off from the Urahara Shop.

"Bye." Ichigo shouted a bit so she could hear.

_She's not that bad, maybe I just need to know her better that's all…_

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well, this took me quite some time to finish. _Bleach _is a hard anime to come up with a fic about. Please review.


	4. Second Visits

A/N: I haven't updated in awhile haven't I? My bad, been kind of busy these past couple of days. I don't really know much about Renji and Byakuya's character so they might be a bit OOC in this chapter. Well, here's chapter 4 anyways, please review.

Chapter 4

Second Visits

"I'm home," Rukia announced as she stepped foot in a quiet and peaceful house, quite possibly her own. She was then met by a tall dark-haired young man.

"You're late," Byakuya said in a cold manner.

"Forgive me brother, something came up…I-I got to go." Without another word, Rukia rushed to her room upstairs trying to avoid the presence of her older brother. She slammed the door shut and the tumblers locking in to place can be heard from downstairs.

A concerned look surfaced on Byakuya's face.

"Renji…" he called out, then a red-headed young man emerged from the other room. "…Rukia is hiding something, find out what it is." Byakuya instructed.

"hmm…figures." Renji said sarcastically.

School the next day…

Ichigo was eating lunch on his own in the school rooftop; he was isolating himself from Keigo and the others who were in the rooftop as well. "Oiy, Ichigo, why are you being such a loner?" Mizuiro asked while taking a bite in his sandwich.

"Yeah, come over here and hang out with us." Keigo offered with his usual enthusiasm.

"No thanks, you guys, I'm done eating anyways." Ichigo said cleaning up his place. He then got up and headed for the exit door to descend back down to the school.

_Another lonely afternoon…_he thought as he was going down the staircase.

The rest of the day went by like it normally does, even with Rukia's presence, she was assigned to the seat next to the orange-head, but he didn't really mind. She'd ask him about certain questions concerning the class every now and then, and he just answered with his the usual scowl on his face.

It wasn't long until school ended. Ichigo went his usual trail to work afterwards then continuing home. Setting his backpack down, he straight-away settled himself on his desk and got started with his homework. The Kurosaki household was a bit quiet this time around, his dad was on an emergency and was summoned, while Karin and Yuzu were staying over at a friend of theirs.

The doorbell then rang, since nobody was home, Ichigo knew he was the only one left to answer it. Not in any hurry at all, the orange-head casually walked downstairs.

The doorbell rang again, "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Ichigo raised his voice a bit, reaching the front door, he opened it. Then, the orange-head suddenly felt as if his anger moments ago have suppressed after immediately seeing who it was.

"umm…hi Ichigo." Rukia greeted.

"Rukia, what are you doing here so late?" he asked.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure, but you still haven't answered my question."

"I just...need some help with the homework, that's all."

Ichigo invited the raven-haired petite girl in, and showed her the way to his room. There was an uncomfortable silence in the entire house, a silence that wasn't present before Rukia came. Silence that obviously bothered the two. "No one's home?" she asked, breaking the ice, while stepping into the 15 year-old student's room.

"Yeah, I don't think they'll be back until the morning." He said in reply.

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm staying over for the night."

A couple of hours passed and the two seem more used to each other's company, talking casually like normal friends do. "You're supposed to do it like this…" Ichigo said, showing Rukia his method of solving one particular Algebra problem.

"But I thought, you it goes like this…" Rukia protested showing Ichigo her method.

"See that's why you got the wrong answer." The orange-head pointed out, "Do it like this, ok?"

"Fine," Rukia said after letting out a sigh.

Finishing up on their homework, Ichigo and Rukia just passed the time talking while Rukia was walking around his room, curiously observing. She then noticed a lone picture frame by the shelf. "…Ichigo, is this your mom?" She asked picking up the picture frame to get a closer look at it.

Ichigo suddenly went silent.

"Oh…I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" The raven-haired girl apologized after noticing, she hastily placed the picture back in its place and stopped her browsing of Ichigo's belongings.

"It's ok…you don't have to be sorry." Ichigo said with his head down. "Do you want anything to eat?" He asked, getting up and heading down stairs.

"Oh…no it's ok." Rukia rejected the offer while following the orange-head.

"No no, don't be shy if you want anything…" he proposed again.

"Really, you don't have to…" she continued.

"It's sounding like you want some but you're just too shy to ask."

"REALLY! I DON'T WANT ANY!" Rukia raised her voice a bit.

"Alright, alright, no need to shout." Ichigo complained.

"Well, I wouldn't be shouting if you'd just stop asking." She said sarcastically.

"Oh here I am trying to be nice and what's the thanks I get?" the orange-head was starting to get annoyed, giving her a death glare.

"Who said you need any thanks? You didn't really do anything!" she said looking him straight in the eyes as well.

"I would've done something, if you'd just let me!"

"Well, I guess we'll never find out now won't we?"

"WHY YOU STUBORN BRAT!"

"YOU INSENSITIVE JERK!"

The two then stopped, they hadn't noticed that with each insult they threw at each other their faces moved one inch close…well, they noticed it now. With their faces only mere inches apart, Ichigo and Rukia's faces started bursting in bright red. Regaining rational thought, the "couple" immediately pulled away from each other to escape the embarrassment.

"I-I think I should go now." Rukia tried to speak through the redness of her cheeks.

"uh…yeah, sure." Ichigo was suffering from the same problem as well.

With an inconvenient farewell, the raven-haired girl left the Kurosaki residence, still trying to think through everything that conspired.

Meanwhile, from a across the street, a red-headed young man was patiently watching Rukia leave the household.

"This is getting interesting…" Renji said to himself.

A/N: Liked it? Then please review.


	5. Quality Time

A/N: Hey everybody, how's it going? I hope you guys are liking my story so far, here's chapter 5 and don't forget to leave a review.

Chapter 5

Quality Time

"Wow! It's so cute!" Rukia said with much joy as she stared through the display window of the town's local toy store.

"I don't see what the big deal is; it's just a stuffed animal." Ichigo said with his familiar scowl. He ran into Rukia that weekend on his way to work and decided to tag along for awhile. The whole time, the petite raven-haired girl had her face planted on to the toy store's display window.

She was eyeing one particular item, it was a novelty (yes, you've guessed it, what more could Rukia Kuchiki want than…) Chappy the Rabbit stuffed animal, quietly displayed on the store, just waiting to be bought. "I got to get that…" Rukia said as if being hypnotized.

"Are you kidding me? That thing is way too expensive." Ichigo pointed out, "And you better not be asking me for any money."

"Ahh…c'mon Ichigo, pleeeaaassseee!" She pleaded to the orange-haired boy. "I really want that thing and I'm flat broke right now, pleeeaaassseee!"

"No." he said coldly.

"Some friend are you…" Rukia complained and crossing her arms after finding her efforts unsuccessful.

"Yeah, like you're any better?" Ichigo replied.

"I got to get that Chappy the Rabbit…" Rukia demanded again, scurrying back to the display window to get another look.

"Look, if you're dying to get that damn thing, then just get a job or something." Ichigo suggested, seeing that this is the only way to resolve this matter.

"A job, huh?" the raven-haired girl processed the idea through her mind, putting a finger on her chin to think.

Later…

"Of course, Ms. Kuchiki, you're welcome to work here." Kisuke Urahara agreed with high respect, putting a smile on Rukia's face.

Ichigo slapped his hand against his face leaving an imprint on it, realizing what he just did. "This isn't what I meant you know…" he scowled.

"Well, you said I should get a job." Rukia pointed out.

"Why here of all places?!" The orange-haired 15-year old complained. "That's the last time I'm giving you advice on something."

"You can get started right away. I hope you don't mind showing her how things are ran around here, Kurosaki, it is your shift after all." The humble shopkeeper instructed before leaving the two to their work.

It wasn't long until the raven-haired girl learned everything she needed to know, simple service instructions and some rules and guidelines in handling some equipment. "It sure is a bit quiet here." Rukia noticed, standing behind the counter while Ichigo is busy running a check through the items up on the store.

"Yeah, it's not often that this place gets a lot of customers." The 15-year old boy replied.

"Oiy, Ichigo, Tessai is out busy with some private matters and isn't back yet, can you dispose of some of the old and useless inventory out in the back?" Urahara instructed, popping back in to the front of the store. "Don't worry, I'll watch over the counter while you do so."

_Why does he never do any dirty work? _Ichigo thought as he was walking towards the door to the storage room. "Ichigo…I'll help." Rukia said, following the orange-head as well.

Inside the storage room, the two were quietly picking out the boxes that Kisuke wanted them to get rid off, as they were all clearly marked. "The garbage dumpster is right outside, through that exit door." Ichigo pointed out for Rukia, she just gave him a simple nod in return. Ichigo blew on one of the boxes and sent dust flying in the air, meaning that these items were left here for some time untouched, he then stacked one on top of another and started carrying them towards the dumpster he pointed out earlier.

Rukia did the same as she stacked the boxes to save up some time; she sneezed after inhaling some bits of the dust. "Bless you." Ichigo remarked as he was coming back in to get more boxes moving.

"Thanks." She said. Then strengthening her legs, she picked up the two boxes and tried her best to lift it with all her might, it was clearly heavy. Noticing this, Ichigo turned his attention to the struggling girl.

"You sure you can carry does just fine, Rukia? Maybe you should try carrying it one at a time." he asked in concern.

"Yeah…I'm…fine." She tried to make up words through the weight of the boxes in her arms. Suddenly, she went off balance due to the unbearable weight for her, sending the boxes toppling on the ground and Rukia off her feet.

"Rukia!" Ichigo alerted. He then made a quick dash and caught her by her waist to prevent her from hitting the floor hard. "Thanks again." The raven-haired girl said to him for breaking her fall. The two then stopped to notice the awkward position they were in. Ichigo was right there standing behind her, supporting her weight through his hands placed on her petite waist. A blush surfaced on their faces immensely after seeing this.

"What's all the commotion?" A familiar green and white hat stripped came into the room. He then saw what the two was doing and quickly made an assumption. "Ah, I see. Sorry to bother you two…"

"Wait, it's not what you think…" Rukia tried to reason, getting back to her feet.

"Yeah, we were just…" Ichigo tried to reason as well, tacking back his hands to himself.

"No, no, there's no need to explain, I see these things a lot, if you need me, I'll still be in the counter." Urahara explained and left the room afterwards.

"But, but, but…" the two rambled in unison, then ending in a sigh of defeat.

Forgetting about the whole incident and seeing that there was no use trying to explain to the simple-minded shopkeeper, Ichigo and Rukia just resumed their work, with Ichigo handling the heavier equipment this time around and Rukia with the things she can handle without any problems.

"So, you're planning to work here until you get enough money?" Ichigo asked while whipping the sweat from his forehead, earned through the hard work of the day.

"I guess, it isn't at all bad, this is the first job I got." She happily cleared up, sitting down on of the boxes to rest.

"Hey Ichigo, thanks for catching me earlier," the raven-haired girl brought up again.

"Don't mention it." The orange-head said in reply. "Well, I guess we can call it a day, our shift's officially over." He announced.

"That's great, I can't wait to get my money." Rukia said with enthusiasm.

"uh…we won't get paid until a couple of weeks from now."

"WHAT?!"

A/N: Rukia is a bit OOC here, my bad, I hope you guys still enjoyed this chapter, please review.


	6. The Reason

A/N: Time for a new chapter…

Chapter 6

The Reason

Your typical day in Karakura High School, the students are quietly busy in their respective classes, working on a test they were all determined to pass. Ichigo and Rukia were no exception, they were both heavily concentrated on the dreaded piece of paper laid out in front of them.

To young Ichigo Kurosaki, this wasn't much of a problem. He was always a bright student in school even though he tends to hide it behind his aggressive and often trouble-seeking nature. Always got his homework set and done, never really an annoyance in class, the most unlikely of "A" students.

The orange head finished his test quite early, finding little difficulty; he turned his paper over so that way none of his seat mates can copy any of his work. Resting his chin on his hand, supported through his elbow on the table, he looked around the class room in hopes of passing the time. His attention caught one particular student.

Rukia Kuchiki, the raven-haired girl sitting next to him. She was still working on her test and seemed that she didn't find it as easy. Ichigo has never spent that much time with anybody except of course, his family, they were not only school mates but co-workers in the same job as well. To think their friendship started with a simple accident that left him bleeding on the side walk floor.

She raised her feminine eyebrow after seeing that one problem confused her. The clock moved as slow as it could possibly be; with all of the students seem to be still working except for a few, namely Ichigo, Ishida, and Chad.

Ichigo gave a long sigh in response to the boredom, and then he turned his attention back to Rukia. She was biting down on her pencil eraser, trying to make her brain come up with an answer to the last question on the test, her expression soon quickly shifted, happily smiling after figuring out what to do now. The orange-head enjoyed seeing her like this. He couldn't stop glancing at her, at her innocence, yet he questioned…why?

_Why can't I stop looking at her? _He asked himself.

_I mean…were just friends, right?_

_Friends and nothing more,_

_But I just can't stop looking at her,_

_Why?_

She wasn't always the first person you'd agree to something the first time around, with him and her always arguing over simple matters. From sarcastic comments to harsh insults, you can almost mistake them to be the worse of enemies. And to the irony of it, these fights end in a way in which they both least expected, becoming closer to each other in the most awkward of moments.

_They were all just coincidence. _Ichigo thought in denial.

_PURE COINCIDENCE!_

Rukia continued writing down on her paper , she remembered her second visit to Ichigo's house, and how he taught her the way to solve that one algebra problem. It looks like she found it useful right now. Finally completing her test, she flipped her paper over and sat upright on her seat, trying to be diligent. She then noticed that the guy next to her was looking at her in a strange way.

"Ichigo is something wrong?" she whispered to him, remembering that the test is still in progress to other people. Ichigo was mentally snapped after hearing Rukia pop the question.

"Oh, I must've dosed off, sorry." He replied, he turned his attention away from her, facing another direction, feeling a bit embarrassed.

It wasn't long that the class finally ended, the teacher gladly collected the students' test papers and the classroom emptied out. Rukia had a smile on her face as she walked out into the hallways, giving herself a pat on the back for a job well done. She then noticed a particular orange-haired boy in the crowd, and decided to join him. "So how was the test?" she asked.

"Hey Rukia...it wasn't that hard." He said.

"I got to thank you for helping me last time, I don't think I would've answered the last question." She mentioned to the 15 year old carrying a scowl.

"No problem."

"So um…where are you going now?"

"To the roof, to eat lunch,"

"Mind if I join you?"

Ichigo thought the question through, wondering what the consequences are for saying "yes" and for saying "no". He scratched the side of his head, still trying to make up an answer as if the test they just had wasn't over yet. "Uh…eh…s-sure." He finally decided.

The two walked up the stair case with their lunches in hand, reaching their destination in quite some time. A gust of wind blew across the rooftops, ruffling Rukia's dark-colored hair. "You eat here all the time?" she asked with a smile, while finding it fun that her hair is dancing in the wind.

_She keep asking questions today, doesn't she?_ Ichigo thought before giving his reply.

"Yeah." He said settling down and bringing out his lunch. He looked around to see that they were the only ones there. Normally his other friends, Keigo, Chad, and the others are here as well. The orange-head just assumed that they might be still in the cafeteria, probably getting some juices or food. Lucky for him they won't see him and Rukia up here on the roof all alone.

Setting her food as well, Rukia sat in front of Ichigo to give him some company; after all, this is the whole point of her asking to come with him here. It was the infamous return of the awkward silence, both of them finding it hard to talk in the strange atmosphere circling the area. So what do they do? Make out? Of course not, ending this story here is a bit cut short for my expense. What did they do? Absolutely nothing, just sit, eat, be quiet and avoid eye contact as much as possible, maybe even blush slightly here and there.

One lunch later…

Ichigo and Rukia found it a relief that they were finally packing up their meals. Cleaning up after themselves, the orange-haired 15 year old surveyed the rooftop one last time, seeing that the others never really showed up.

_Something must've come up…_he thought.

"Ichigo, you coming down?" he heard Rukia ask him, she was readied by the door to the stair case. He simply gave a nod in reply.

Going down in the same way as before, the two high school students made their way back to the school grounds. "Hey Ichigo…" Rukia started again, now finding much easier to talk compared to before. "…it was nice eating with you today." She said nicely, giving him a decent smile.

"Don't mention it." Ichigo replied, he was then entranced by her smile again, and there it was. The same smile she had when she came to his house the second time that day, the same smile she had when she admired that Chappy the Rabbit doll in the toy shop, the same smile she had when she got her first job at the Urahara Shop, the same smile she had when she finished her test moments ago. That smile...her smile.

Then Ichigo thought,

_Was this the reason all along?_

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well? A bit more on Ichigo's POV here, hope you liked it, please review!


	7. What Are Friends For

A/N: Another new chapter you guys. Enjoy. I would've updated earlier but the pain of the CST's kept hindering me from my fanfics, not only this one but others as well, anyhow, just read on.

Chapter 7

What Are Friends For

"So Ichigo, I hear you got yourself a girlfriend now…" Keigo said with a womanizer like enthusiasm as he was nudging his elbow at his orange-haired friend.

"You heard what?!" Ichigo asked, thinking he must've heard it wrong, "Did you say I have girlfriend, since when?" He just came in the rooftop for his usual going of lunch and he was already being bombarded by his friends.

"I hear you've been hanging out with Kuchiki-san more and more lately." Mizuiro explained.

"If you ask me, I think it just proves that Ichigo isn't at all gay." Ishida said with his familiar wet-blanket tone, pushing his glasses up while looking at Ichigo.

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean, Uryu?" Ichigo talked back at the comment, "and besides, me and Rukia are just friends."

"Eh, whatever you say…" Mizuiro said, hinting some sarcasm.

Meanwhile…

"So, Rukia, are you and Kurosaki-kun in a relationship or something?" Orihime asked out of the bloom. She, Rukia, and Tatsuki were quietly taking a stroll in the crowded hallways of Karakura High School during the lunch period.

Rukia then started blushing after Orihime popped the question. "What made you say that?" Rukia asked, trying to speak through the redness in her cheeks.

"You two just seem to hang out a lot, it just made us wonder." Tatsuki gladly cleared up for the raven-haired girl.

"No, no, of course not, me and Ichigo are just friends, that's all." Rukia explained to the two, making herself as believable as possible, somehow it looked like a failed attempt which left Orihime and Tatsuki a suspicious look in their faces.

"Hey…you're blushing!" Orihime pointed out after noticing.

"Oh, am I, maybe it's just because of the heat, yeah, the heat!" the raven-haired girl just blurted out the next logical reason that came into her mind just to avoid the embarrassment.

"C'mon now Rukia, you are so lying right now." Tatsuki said.

"I am not!" Rukia defended.

Back at the rooftop…

"How many times am I going to tell you idiots that me and Rukia are not dating!" Ichigo shouted out to his group of friends.

"You are such a bad liar Kurosaki," Uryu commented again making another nerve pulse on Ichigo's head.

"What do you think, Chad?" Miziuro asked their tall quiet friend.

A long silence then enveloped the entire group, all waiting for what Chad had to say.

"I think Ichigo is lucky…to finally have a girlfriend." Chad finally answered in his same stoic voice and speech.

"C'MON CHAD! NOT YOU TOO!" Ichigo cried out after hearing that his most fateful friend had turned on him as well.

Returning to the girls again…

"Tatsuki, Orihime, stop, I'm telling you, me and Ichigo are just friends, ok?" Rukia continued in her attempts on convincing the two. She was more calm this time unlike earlier, seems that she regained her composure to answer the questions more rationally.

"Eh, fine." Tatsuki sighed in defeat and so did Orihime.

"Class is about to start, me and Inoue-san are just going to go to our classes." Tatsuki said. "Bye Kuchiki-san." The two gave their farewells.

"Bye."

The raven-haired girl then took deep and long breaths in relief, seeing that her friends finally stopped in interrogating her. Something then came to her mind; she stopped to reconsider what she said to them.

_Do I really consider Ichigo to just be a friend? _She asked herself, but some how she couldn't give an answer.

Ok, now back to the Karakura High School Rooftops, if that's ok…

"You know what? I'm not going to even talk to you guys anymore." Ichigo finally had it, he hastily cleaned up the area he ate on and immediately started to make his way towards the exit door. He just wanted to get away from the barrage of questions that kept coming out of his friends' mouths…well, maybe except Chad's.

As he was quietly strolling down the staircase on his own, he remembered the incident from the other day, the one where Rukia was with him in the roof. He stopped to reconsider what he just said the past few minutes.

_Do I think of Rukia to be no more than a friend? _He asked himself, and like before, he still didn't have the answer to it.

Well, that was a lot of scenario switching, if you're confused right now please take this time to slowly recuperate then continue reading again. Don't worry, no more scenario switching like that for the rest of the chapter.

Finally, the dismissal bells of Karakura High School rang which sent the students stampeding outside. Among the pack of students was our favorite "couple" so to speak.

"I can't believe this day…" Ichigo started as he was walking along side Rukia.

"Tell me about it…" she began herself.

"MY FRIENDS KEPT ASKING ME IF I WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS ONE STUDENT!" they both said in compete unison.

"Wait…you too?" Ichigo asked after seeing that they both had the same problem.

"Uh-huh, and you?" Rukia asked too, they were both sending each other the same lines back and forth. But they soon stopped after seeing the awkwardness in it.

"So um…who'd they say you were with?" Rukia asked in curiosity as they continued walking out the school gates.

"It's no one." Ichigo replied, feeling that he didn't want to let the raven-haired girl know. "How about you?" he then asked the same question.

"It's…not important." Rukia gave an identical reply.

_Strange enough…it's you..._

To Be Continued

A/N: Another confusing chapter in the fic known as "A Chance Meeting", my bad. I just came up this idea and thought that you guys might like it, you know. Anyways, only one way to find out if you did…through reviews! So please review! Please!


	8. For A Few Pennies More

A/N: Ah! The smell of a new chapter, any more smelling and I think I'll look like a drug-addict over here. Enough about that, here's Chapter 8 for you readers and thanks all the reviews.

Chapter 8

For A Few Pennies More

"Well, here you go you two, this month's pay." Kisuke Urahara announced as he handed an envelope to Ichigo and Rukia. "Don't spend it all at once now." He advised.

Ok, pause here for a sec, since I clearly do not live in Japan. I don't know how much people get paid for over there. All I know is that their currency is yen. Other than that I'm absolutely clueless about finances in that part of the globe. So I'll try to avoid hard numbers as much as I can in this fic, ok? Good. Now continue reading.

Ichigo and Rukia have just finished their usually shift in the Urahara Shop. Luckily, nothing much happened this time compared to that one incident when Rukia just started. And the memories seem to still haunt the two, in a good way…well, good for us.

Rukia then burst in joy after hearing "here you go" and "pay" coherently in the same sentence. This was the moment she was waiting for, and quite frankly the reason she took this job. She hastily took her envelope and immediately opened it, gazing upon the number of bills contained within it. Ichigo noticed the joyful look on the raven-haired girl as she smiled in success. He just couldn't stop staring at her bright smile again.

"Ichigo…"

"Ichigo,"

"Oiy, Ichigo, are you going to take your money or not?" Urahara questioned seeing that Kurosaki was just standing there and wasn't moving at all. Ichigo snapped out of his trance after finally hearing the humble shopkeeper.

"Alright," he said in a bit of annoyance, snatching his envelope from Mr. Hat and Clogs with his usual scowl on his face.

"Sorry to bother you, what were you staring at anyways?" Urahara asked. Ichigo then started blushing all of the sudden after hearing the question laid out before him.

_Damn it, I knew he was going to ask._ He thought.

"I-I…well…uh-"

"C'mon Ichigo, let's go to the toy shop while that Chappy is still there." Rukia interrupted the orange-haired boy and instantly grabbed him by his wrist, then stormed straight out of the shop.

"Aren't they such a nice couple?" Tessai pointed out, standing next to the shopkeeper.

"Tell me about it." Urahara replied.

Later in the toy shop…

"I'm sorry miss, but you don't have enough money to buy that particular item." The man behind the counter pointed out when the raven-haired girl asked for the precious Chappy the Rabbit doll.

"awwwwwww." Rukia said disappointingly after hearing this, looking down and finding her previous enthusiasm shattered into peices. Ichigo who was standing next to her, saw the sadness in Rukia's eyes and felt highly concerned even though she wasn't crying or anything. This was the first time he saw her like this...sad and disappointed.

_C'mon man, give her a break; she worked hard for that thing. _Ichigo thought concerning the toy shop owner, and then he had an idea flash through his mind.

The orange haired reached down in his pocket and brought out his envelope from earlier. He reconsidered the consequences if he continued but it wasn't long until he made up his mind. He ripped it open and reached for a couple of bills.

"Here…" Ichigo offered his money to Rukia.

"What's this?" Rukia was suddenly surprised to see what her friend was doing.

"Just take it before I change my mind." Ichigo scowled to hide his deep concerns for her.

"Thanks…Ichigo." The raven-haired girl said, taking the money and giving Ichigo a smile in return, a smile to show her appreciation for what he was doing for her, a smile that left shades of red on poor Ichigo's face.

The two left the toy shop shortly after, not empty handed.

Rukia cuddled the Chappy the Rabbit doll close to her as they walked home together. Ichigo felt good about himself, now seeing that Rukia was happy and got what she really wanted in the end. It wasn't long until they reached the cross street where they'll part ways.

"Well, goodbye, see you tomorrow." Ichigo bade a farewell, turning to his direction.

"Ichigo…wait." Rukai called out, stopping him in his tracks. "Why did you lend me your money to buy the Chappy?" she asked.

"Don't expect me to do that often." Ichigo simply remarked, making himself sound like he wasn't going soft on the girl. "I'm guessing you won't be working in Urahara shop anymore now that you got that thing?"

"Of course not, working there is great, especially when y-"she stopped mid-sentence to reconsider what she was going to say next. Now you she was blushing this time around. "I-I mean, I might need some extra money you know." She changed her answer. "Uh…I'm going to go now, bye Ichigo." She hastily bade a farewell then immediately left.

"Hmmm….what was that all about?" Ichigo wondered, scratching his head in confusion.

Later…

"God, that was close…" Rukia sighed in relief, entering her house. She closed the front door and walked up the stairs to her room with the Chappy the Rabbit still safely in her arms.

She then entered the door to her room, only to be met by Renji and her brother, Byakuya, anxiously waiting for her arrival.

"Who is he Rukia?" Byakuya asked in his usual monotone voice while sending a stiff glare from his cold eyes.

"Brother…w-what are you talking about?" Rukia was still shocked, she wasn't expecting her brother and Renji to be here, let alone ask such a question.

"Who is he Rukia?" Byakuya repeated.

"Don't lie now…" Renji noted with a grin, pressuring Rukia for an answer.

Rukia stood there, trying to come up with the right answer to give.

_Are they talking about Ichigo? But how did they know about him? _She asked herself.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I always enjoyed doing cliffhangers. Anyways, I was supposedly going to update this fic yesterday but I got exhausted over the day so I didn't get to finish. Good thing I finished today and still managed to post it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, going to update soon, please review! Hey I just noticed, are my chapters short?


	9. My Brother's Keeper

A/N: I'm so sorry you guys for updating just now, the cascading mountain of end-semester home works and projects have derailed and detoured me far off course from my update schedule. So sorry, anyways, here's the latest chap, I kept you guys quite some time from my previous cliff hanger so here's the continuation.

Chapter 9

My Brother's Keeper

"God, that was close…" Rukia sighed in relief, entering her house. She closed the front door and walked up the stairs to her room with the Chappy the Rabbit still safely in her arms.

She then entered the door to her room, only to be met by Renji and her brother, Byakuya, anxiously waiting for her arrival.

"Who is he Rukia?" Byakuya asked in his usual monotone voice while sending a stiff glare from his cold eyes.

"Brother…w-what are you talking about?" Rukia was still shocked, she wasn't expecting her brother and Renji to be here, let alone ask such a question as soon as she got home.

"Who is he Rukia?" Byakuya repeated.

"Don't lie now…" Renji noted with a grin, pressuring Rukia for an answer.

Rukia stood there, trying to come up with the right answer to give.

_Are they talking about Ichigo? But how did they know about him? _She asked herself

"Tell me, who is this young man you kept seeing lately?" Byakuya kept asking, not breaking the cold glaze emitting from his eyes.

"H-He's just a classmate…" Rukia replied, giving much thought to her answer.

"Then what were you doing in his house?" Renji added, reminding the raven-haired girl of her second visit to the Kurosaki's.

"How'd you…we were doing homework for school." Rukia answered the red-head. She now realized that Renji saw her that night. By accident or on purpose, it doesn't matter; he saw with his own two eyes that she was there inside that humble home.

"Fine, that is all." Byakuya remarked, leaving the room, but the expression in his face left the mark that he wasn't completely rest assured with her answers, he could see that there was far more than what his younger sister was telling him.

Rukia's shoulders dropped in another gush of relief after sensing her brother's presence out of the room. But Renji was still there, yet it didn't seem to bother her that much. "Honestly Rukia, who is he?" the red-head asked with a more mature and serious tone in contrast from earlier. "Who was that guy?"

"Renji…just leave, please." Rukia requested, not bearing to even look at him after what just happened.

"Rukia, I just want to know-"

"Please! Leave." she cut him off, sending glare of her own which resembled Byakuya. After seeing that he was unwanted, Renji got the picture and just did what she wanted, leaving the raven-haired girl the room to herself.

Rukia just stood there in the quiet loneliness of her room, for any girl, her room was suppose to be a place to feel relaxed and safe, a solitude from the troubles of the outside world. But to Rukia Kuchiki, there's no place on Earth where she can feel comfortable and safe.

_Except one…_

Rukia remembered the Chappy she had; now just dangling from her hands at her side. She hugged the doll close to her like she did before she stepped foot in her household and she closed her eyes, then one name flashed through her mind…_Ichigo._

School the next day…

Ichigo and Rukia were walking down the typically crowded halls of Karakura High, it was passing period and the pair was simply making their way towards their next class together. Everything seemed like it always has, until the orange head noticed something out of the norm.

"Oiy Rukia, are you ok? You've been kind of quiet lately, is something wrong?" Ichigo asked concerning to the petite girl he was walking alongside

"Oh! I-It's nothing, I'm just tired that's all." Rukia defended not wanting Ichigo to know about the dilemma from yesterday.

"You sure?" Ichigo asked again, looking a bit confused on Rukia's sudden defensive actions.

"Positive, I'm fine now." The raven-haired girl said, forcing a smile on her face to make her comment more believable. "Well come on, we better hurry up or else we'll be late."

Soon, the dismissal bells rang which sent the students flying off into the distance from the school. Our lovely "couple" didn't have work this day so they quickly bade their farewells and went towards their respective homes.

As Ichigo strolled pass the sidewalk towards his house/private clinic, his mind compressed over how odd his raven-haired friend acted today.

_Wonder what's bothering Rukia?_

_She was all quiet in class today, which is quite strange of her._

_Is something wrong?_

_Hmm…maybe it'll turn up sooner or later, I hope._

The orange-head continued walking until he suddenly stopped. A young man stood malevolently in front of him, purposely blocking his path. Ichigo tried to evade the person by moving to his right, but the blocker only followed to make sure he wasn't going anywhere.

"Problem?" Ichigo asked, noticing the red-haired young man.

"Actually, there is." Renji answered.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Ichigo then asked, now growing a scowl in his face in light of the trouble that's about to happen.

"Name's Renji Abarai, and I'm telling you stay away from Rukia." Renji threatened, grabbing Kurosaki by his uniform collar, "Stay away from her if you know what's good for you, got it?"

"And what if I don't?" Ichigo talked back, not even flinching over Renji's physical threats.

"Then let's just say it's going to be the last thing you ever do." Renji finished, releasing his grip. Ichigo didn't feel like muscling back at the guy, something held him back but he didn't mind, he knew it would take a lot more than that to scare him.

"I'll see you around." Renji said, walking away from the scenery; finding that his message has been properly delivered.

"Bet you I will, Renji Abarai" The orange-head replied, straightening out his uniform collar after it got crunched up and ruined before resuming his walk home.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I hope I haven't lost you guys because I missed my update schedule. Please review.


	10. Catching You Everytime You Fall

A/N: Sorry again if it took some time for me to post the new chapter, it's hard to get an idea going for this fic compared to the others. Trying to come up with a good combination of romance, humor, and the feel of a _Bleach_ episode is not as easy as it sounds. Well, I try to do my best in every update. Please read and review.

Chapter 10

Catching You Everytime You Fall

"I'm telling you, Rukia, it's supposed to look like this."

"Ichigo, you idiot, it's much better if it goes like this."

It was your average after school shift for the two teenagers in the Urahara Shop, Ichigo and Rukia were in one of their arguments, and when the pair has each other on their throats, you just know it's going to be awhile before they stop and admit defeat.

The subject to be debated this time around was concerning the shop's new banner placement. "Rukia, damn it, why can't we just leave the sign the ways it was before? Just hanging up from the front above the door," Ichigo argued with the raven-haired girl.

"Because, it looks so much better if it's hanging vertically by the sides of the entrance!" Rukia defended. "It'll attract more customers that way!"

"Look, uh, can you two just decide what to do so we can move along?" Urahara advised, watching the trouble from the side. He was starting to regret appointing the two to handle this job, but then again, he barely regrets anything.

"Master Kisuke, are the teenagers still not finished?" Urahara's right hand man, Tessai, asked with all due respect, just arriving in the scene after completing an errand.

"I'm afraid not." The shopkeeper replied, still watching the whole agenda happening at the front of the Urahara Shop.

"Just leave it like the old way!" Ichigo yelled at the petite young girl.

"I said NO Ichigo, my idea can help the shop!" Rukia protested.

"You crazy little brat, things were good the way they were!"

"You inconsiderate jerk, why can't you accept somebody's idea for once?!"

As the argument progressed, Urahara gave a simple yawn then checked on the time. "Well, I do believe this has gone far enough." He remarked. "Oiy, Ichigo, Rukia…" Being called for attention, the couple looked in the direction of Mr. Hat and Clogs in unison with an expression as if they're about to kill each other at any moment. "Why not keep the old sign up top while adding the ones on the side?" Kisuke suggested.

The white-and-green stripped hat wearer's answer somehow stopped the two's fight. They were so busy trying to prove themselves over the other that they didn't stop to consider that option at all.

"fine, have it your way…" Ichigo said in annoyance, looking away from Rukia while keeping the scowl in his face intact.

"As long as it'll finally shut him up," Rukia agreed and faced away as well.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" the orange-head overheard making a nerve pulse from his head. "WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"It's settled then, come Tessai, I do believe I have a helping for tea right about now." Urahara said, entering the shop with Tessai to leave the two to their work.

Ichigo and Rukia we're now unusually quiet, they were still slightly mad, but not at each other, they still found it hard to believe that the humble shop owner managed to outsmart both of them yet again.

"I'll get the ladder…" the orange-haired high school student broke the silence between them after giving an irritable sigh; he then disappeared from into the rear to fetch what he mentioned. Rukia remained at the front and she tried to picture how the finishing appearance of the Urahara Shop would look like until Ichigo came back.

"Ok, I'll hang up the new sign while you keep the ladder steady." The raven-haired girl instructed. The young Kurosaki then set up the only tall and old ladder the shop had. He placed it in the right spot followed by Rukia climbing it with the sign in hand. The ladder wobbled slightly over the added weight even though the petite girl wasn't that heavy at all. Up top, she nailed the left side of the sign in place with some assistance from Ichigo, handing her the necessary tools from the below.

Finished on that side and planning to move on to the next, Rukia threw the other end of the banner across so that way it can be easily attached from the other side. As she was climbing down, the ladder wobbled again but this time more rigorously. Ichigo gripped the ladder like he was told to prevent it from tipping, but the vibration already caused the raven-haired girl to loose her balance. Rukia tried to grab hold but her hand slipped and forced her off.

"RUKIA!"

The raven-haired girl thought that she was about to meet the hard painful ground below, but instead she felt herself land on something else. Regaining her composure from the fall, Rukia looked down to see somebody very familiar. Lucky for her, Ichigo was able to break her fall just in nick of time. "You really should be more careful." The orange-head grunted, lying flat on the ground with Rukia on top of him.

Although it was of grave importance that he did so, Ichigo found himself in another awkward position with Rukia. The two gazed at each others eyes as their faces were only mere inches apart yet again, both of them blushing in unison.

"Ichigo, sorry." The petite young girl apologized, snapping out of the trance and getting up to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," The 15 year-old answered, standing up as well and dusting his clothes a bit, "I'm more worried about you,"

Rukia then felt her heart skip a beat after hearing those words.

_I'm more worried about you…_

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." She tried to answer, trying to wake herself from the all the thoughts suddenly rampaging in her mind over a simple phrase from Kurosaki.

"Maybe I should hang the rest of the sign." Ichigo suggested, feeling that he couldn't risk Rukia any more for the rest of the day.

"Oh, s-sure," Rukia replied, looking away as the blushing from earlier now increased ten-fold.

"You sure, you're okay?" Ichigo then noticed the raven-haired girl's suddenly odd behavior. "Didn't get hit on the head or anything?"

"I'm fine." She answered, still trying to hide the shades of red from her cheeks.

"Ok then." Ichigo just dropped the subject, resuming the job at hand.

_Seriously that girl needs to be more careful. I'm getting tired catching her all over the place._

To Be Continued…

A/N: Slightly rushed chapter here, sorry you guys, hope you can forgive me. I'm going to make up for all the collateral damage on my next update, promise.

Peace out.


	11. Sudden Absence

A/N: Hey everybody, I'm going out of arrangement concerning my order of updates starting today. I figured that since this fic was the fastest on racking up hits and reviews, which meant more people, read it, I might as well put some priority in it. Yup, you guys heard it right; this fic is the fastest wise-cracker among all my current fics. Congratulations, well, enough of the celebration, here's the new chapter.

Chapter 11

Sudden Absence

Rukia took her first morning steps unto the open campus that lead to the entrance of Karakura High School. Everything looked normal as far as she could see, still the same crowdedness, slightly chaotic in a way and yet some what she's grown accustomed to. But something was missing on the big picture. The petite raven-haired girl noticed that she hasn't run into her orange-headed friend, Ichigo Kurosaki, yet.

_I normally catch up to Ichigo during the cross street to our houses, but he wasn't there, that's weird…_

Soon, theories on what might've happened to the young 15-year old boy started flooding Rukia's mind, both from the weird to the bizarre. Deeply worrying her to a large degree…

_What if he got into another accident again? You know how clumsy he can be, he could be lying in a hospital bed right now!_

_O-or what if he was kidnapped! That's even worse! But what will crooks want with a high school student who always has a scowl in his face?_

_Maybe brother and Renji did something to him, oh, I knew I shouldn't have visited Ichigo's house that night!_

Rukia snapped herself off her own thoughts, she was clearly getting carried away by her sudden worry and it's causing her to think that the world could be ending. Taking slow breaths to try and regain her composure, she just resumed her ongoing to first period.

_Ok Rukia, just calm down, maybe he just went to school early, yeah, that's it. I must've missed him on my way to school. He could be quietly sitting in our class right now as we speak._

Reaching her designated class, the raven-haired girl let out a sigh of disappointment after walking in to take her seat. She saw that the seat next to her was empty, much to her dismay, her theory from earlier was proven wrong.

_Where are you Ichigo? Maybe he got held up by something, if so, he should be coming in to school something later, after all, it's not like Ichigo to miss class._

"Kurosaki Ichigo," the teacher called out as she was clearly taking role call. "Kurosaki Ichigo." She repeated; her eyes then trailed off from her attendance sheet after finding that there was still no response. She was surprised to see that Ichigo was indeed absent. "Ichigo's not here?" she asked the class, apparently they too were dumbfounded. "That's weird, unlike of him to miss class."

_Tell me about it. _Rukia thought to herself misserably.

The rest of the school day progressed like it normally does, only difference that Rukia was practically on her own the whole day, some of her friends, Orihime, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo tried to cheer her up, but she just gave the same reply to each one them. "You guys, I'm fine, it's nothing, ok?"

It wasn't long until the day finally ended, the petite raven-haired girl blended in with the storming students exiting the campus before trailing her own way to her house. Still, she was a bit caught up with the fact that she didn't see Ichigo almost the whole day.

_I guess, I'm just used to his company now. It feels weird when he's not around when he's suppose to. I don't know why, but I feel sad and worried at the same time. God, make it stop!_

Soon, Rukia stopped walking after noticing where she was now. She was so dug deep in her thoughts that her legs auto-piloted her towards the way to her house. But she wasn't there just yet, the raven-haired girl stood in front of the cross-section where she normally takes. To her left leads to the Kurosaki's house, while to the right leads to her house.

_You think I should go and visit to see how he is? _Rukia asked herself.

_Yes? No? Yes? No?_

Letting out a sigh, she then made her choice and walked the path where that choice pointed to.

The door bell rang which alerted everybody in the entire house. "I'll get it." Yuzu cheerfully said, walking up to the door to check who it may be.

"Uh, hello, I'm a friend of Ichigo's." Rukia greeted with a gentle smile so she won't look like a random bum in front of the door.

"Oh, you're that one girl from before, here come in." Yuzu quickly recognized and hospitably let the raven-haired girl in.

"Ah, Ms. Rukia, I suppose you're wondering why Ichigo wasn't at school today?" all of the sudden, Ichigo's father, Isshin, emerged from one room and immediately answered the question Rukia was about to ask.

"Uhm…yes…sir." Rukia replied, finding herself a bit lost in words.

Suddenly, Rukia heard a familiar voice from behind Isshin, a voice that made her heart skip a beat, a voice that she longing to her all day.

"Hey dad, what's all the fuss about, who's at the door?" Ichigo asked his estranged father, Rukia then noticed his current condition; Ichigo's forearm was in a cast and was being supported around his neck like more athletes with injuries do.

"I-Ichigo what happened?" she asked, more worried than ever before.

"Oh Rukia it's you." The orange-headed young man said surprisingly, "The arm, yeah, this old man was about to get hit by a car this morning."

"And you just had to be hero?!" Isshin commented, finding his son's action's rather foolish in concern for his own safety.

"Hey dad, I was trying to do the right thing!" Ichigo scowled back.

"You could've at least done that without breaking your arm, now get back to bed!" the father of the Kurosaki household said.

"I told you, I'm fine! I could've gone to school too if it wasn't for you stopping me!" Ichigo argued back then the two just kept shouting repeatedly at each other.

Rukia, seeing the fight along the side, found it slightly funny as she laughed to herself. She was greatly relieved that Ichigo was fine, well technically his arm is broken, but she was happy to see him still standing and still his goofy self.

After the quarrel subsided, Rukia joined Ichigo as he was forcefully sent to his room by his dad to rest. "So why'd you come so sudden Rukia?" Ichigo asked, still troubled by his injury as he wasn't entirely used to it.

"Oh, I was just wor- wor…I-I mean I was planning to give you the homework for today, that's all." The raven-haired girl replied, her cheeks turning red.

"I see." The orange-head added. "…uh, can you stay for awhile?" he then asked.

"huh?"

"Well, you know, it kind of gets a bit lonely in here alone and I can use the company." Ichigo explained, he was clearly embarrassed of admitting it.

"Sure, Ichigo, I'll stay for awhile." Rukia happily answered while giving her friend a gentle smile.

"Thanks." Ichigo said, now blushing a bit as well.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Ok, Rukia is DEFINETLY a bit OOC here, especially during some of her thought segments. But I just liked this concept, you know. Anyways, please review, ok?


	12. Dinner with My Family

A/N: I know you guys must be wondering why I updated just now, well, I have a perfectly logical excuse for that. So I was kind of going out of my mind from my constant over scheduling especially when it's that summer. To help myself, I just took a short break from all the work and slacked myself throughout these past couple of days.

Ok, you readers must be just skipping this part and getting down to the chapter, on that note, let me just move on to the update.

Chapter 12

Dinner with My Family

"Here let me get that for you." Rukia said worryingly while she handed a glass of water for Ichigo. The two were quietly inside the orange-head's cozy room, Rukia was sitting up right in his bed, Ichigo by his desk while the rest of the Kurosaki's are downstairs doing their own dilemmas, not minding Rukia who unexpectedly visited during the night.

"Rukia relax, I just sprained my arm and I'm not paralyzed completely." Ichigo pointed out with the same familiar scowl in his face, seeing that the raven-haired girl is over-reacting over his current condition. Rukia shyly blushed over how true he was. "So why did you come and visit again?" Ichigo then asked, taking the glass of water anyways and taking a large gulp from it.

"Oh, I was um…" she forgot the excuse she gave earlier due to the sudden commotion. "Homework! Yeah, the homework, I was going to give you the homework!" as the answer raced through her mind she immediately called it out to make up for lost time.

"Ok…where's the homework then?" the orange-haired high school freshman continued, raising his brow in notice of Rukia who was acting rather strange, or at least stranger than she normally is. The petite young girl rummaged through her backpack which she brought along. Taking out a piece of paper which had a handful of problems and questions on it, she then handed it to her 15 year-old friend.

"This all?" Ichigo asked, putting it atop his desk and looking it over.

"What are you talking about? Those problems are hard, even for me." Rukia protested as she was putting her backpack away.

"It's easy, I'll probably be done before you leave." He replied. Ichigo then took a pen with his good hand, which was his right, and started working on the assignment.

"Nerd." Rukia murmured to herself.

"Hey, I heard that!" Ichigo complained with a pulse quickly building on his head. But before the two could even start arguing, Yuzu interrupted them as she called out from downstairs.

"Ichigo, Rukia, dinners ready."

Giving each other one last private death glare, the two high school students descended through the stairs and into the dinning room where the table has been filled with a good humble dinner. "I appreciate the offer, Mr. Kurosaki, but it's ok-" Rukia tried to escape as it was slightly embarrassing that she'd dine with them considering she came uninvited.

"Nonsense, Rukia, you sit yourself right up and enjoy the food." Isshin cut her off and convinced her.

Sitting nicely around the table, Rukia took the empty seat to the reluctant Ichigo while the others already started eating their meals. He didn't mind as he too was already feasting on the food on his plate even though he was only using his right hand. Rukia noticed that it was the only seat empty; she then remembered the picture frame in Ichigo's room from before. Deciding she doesn't want to cross that line like last time, Rukia just kept the thought to herself.

Soon, the dinning room was quiet as everybody was eating. It was Rukia's first time eating over at anybody's house and although it was rather awkward for her, for once she felt like being part of an actual family. It was different in her household, whenever she ate with her brother. It felt like they were just eating because it was necessary. Here, the Kurosaki's not only ate for the chance of food, but for the chance of being together as one family. It was one of those things that the raven-haired girl envied from Ichigo. Things that she wished would happen to her own home.

"So Ichigo, when did you and Rukia start dating?" Isshin suddenly asked out of nowhere which made the two choke on the food they were chewing in unison. They both immediately took hold of the glass of water to clear it down their throats.

"FOR THE LAST TIME DAD, RUKIA AND I ARE NOT DATING!" Ichigo shouted at his estranged father while shades of red were bursting out of his face. "IF IT WASN'T FOR THIS CAST, I WOULD'VE KICKED YOUR ASS BY NOW!"

"Ichigo's right, Mr. Kurosaki, he and I are not really dating or anything." Rukia agreed as well as she too was blushing miserably.

"NONSENSE!" Isshin said, literally standing up from his seat and making a comedic pose. "CAN'T YOU TWO SEE THE SIGNS? YOU TWO WERE CLEARLY MADE FOR EACH OTHER!" he pointed out with his usual enthusiasm.

"DAMN IT DAD!" the orange-head was starting to get annoyed beyond reason; the heat radiating from his cheeks didn't help either. The petite raven-haired girl couldn't help but say another word but she was being plagued by the embarrassment.

"ICHIGO AND RUKIA, WHY JUST BY THE SOUND OF-"suddenly Karin unleashed a deathly punch towards her father's face which sent him flying over his seat, it'd seem that she too couldn't stand their father's constant unnecessary drabbles getting in the way of their dinner.

"Maybe that will make things quieter around here." Karin said, returning to her seat to finish her meal. Everybody else did so as well, not minding Isshin who was unconscious on the floor.

It wasn't long until dinner ended and young Rukia Kuchiki thought it'd be wise to be on her way, it was clearly getting late. "Thanks for the food." She said as she checked for her backpack with her homework in it and stood by the door with Ichigo.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Ichigo said, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"You sure you're coming to school?" Rukia asked, still mentioning his injured arm.

"Relax, I'll be there." The 15 year-old assured. "I'm sorry about my dad going all crazy back there."

"It's ok." She laughed, remembering the incident. "We get that a lot anyways."

"Yeah, I guess we do, huh?" The two then accounted what they just said and kind of felt a bit awkward on the fact of even mentioning it.

_We get that a lot, don't we? Could it be true?...Nah, can't be._

"Bye Ichigo." Rukia bade her farewell, walking out the door.

"Bye." Ichigo replied.

_That couldn't have gone any better. _The orange-head thought to himself as he was walking up to his room. He noticed that his dad was still knocked out by the dinning table, but he didn't bother as he just continued up the stairs.

Closing his door behind him, Ichigo took his usual seat in front of his desk and stared at the ceiling to clear his mind. But all that kept popping in his head was the face of the girl who just recently visited his home yet again…

_Rukia, see you tomorrow…_he murmured under his breath.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well, like Ichigo said, "That couldn't have gone any better." To be honest, I was planning to end the chapter with that line alone but decided to add on to it since I thought you guys might like some last minute remembrances. Guess that's it, 'till my next update. My break is officially over and I'm back, people!

Peace out.


	13. Morning Dilemmas

A/N: Giving you guys a little treat here, what do you get in return when Drew gets some free time? That's right, an update. I think after this chapter, I'll be focusing on one of my other stories for awhile since it's about to conclude. Don't over react if I haven't updated in awhile, ok? But don't worry. I'll try my best to still submit some chapters here and there, so stay tune.

Chapter 13

Morning Dilemmas

"Hey, I'm going to school now." Ichigo announced to the rest of his household as he was descending down the stairs from his room along with his backpack. Even though his left arm wasn't dangling from his neck anymore, it was still cooped up in a cast. He said to Rukia that he'd be in school the next day, injured or not. He wasn't the type of guy to just back down from his word.

"Ok then, bye Ichigo." Yuzu happily exclaimed, but the greeting was a bit cut short as she and Karin were both watching the TV intensively. They were neatly sitting on the couch as if they were being hypnotized by the television set.

"What are you two watching?" Ichigo then noticed as he walked to his sisters, passing by his dad who was still unconcious by the dinner table floor from the night before.

"It's this anime show that's really popular around our school nowadays." Karin replied without breaking her attention from the program, while Yuzu just gave a nod in agreement.

"What's it about?" in curiosity, the tall brother of two asked as he bothered to get a look of the show as well. He leaned about behind the couch and took a decent view.

"Well, it's about this troubled young man who has the ability to see ghosts!" Yuzu explained, sounding very interested in the subject.

"See ghosts, huh?" Ichigo said. "So what's happening here on this episode?" he then asked, getting a bit mixed up with what her sister was saying and what the TV set was showing.

"The main character met this strange girl that's like a ghost but sort of fights evil spirits!" Karin replied excitedly, not even flinching in her seat.

"Some of my classmates say that they're supposed to be the love pair of the show but we're not really sure." Yuzu brought up.

"They do look like a good couple." Ichigo said.

_In fact, it sort of reminds of…_

"Ichigo, oiy, Ichigo." The sisters then noticed that their 15 year-old brother was just standing there and not moving at all. "Ichigo, are you ok?" they continued asking, Karin started to wave her hand back and fort in front of his face.

"Whoa, sorry about that, I guess I must've daydreamed for a sec." The orange-haired boy finally woke up from his thoughts. He then took a glimpse of the time and was surprised to see what time it was.

"Damn it! I'm going to be late!" panicking maniacally, Ichigo immediately dashed straight out of the door.

"Bye Ichigo." Yuzu bade a farewell as it seem the air rustled through the entire house due to her brother's intense speed.

Meanwhile…

Rukia gave a long disappointed sigh as she stood by the cross street from her house and the Kurosaki's. Same as yesterday, her friend, Ichigo Kurosaki was nowhere to be found as far as the eye can see.

_I don't get it. He said he was going to be here…Argh! Forget it, stupid Ichigo, might as well get to school before I get marked late._

But before the raven-haired girl could take another step unto the hard pavement of the sidewalk, she heard a faint call of her name from a far.

"Rukia! Wait up!"

She quickly turned her view to where it came from and her eyes caught non other than an orange-haired young man. "Rukia! Wait up!" Ichigo called out again as he was running towards her direction. Finally catching up to her, he bent down to try and catch his breath, school hasn't even started yet and he was already drop-dead tired from all that running.

"What happened to you, do you know you how much time you wasted? We're going to be late because of you!" Rukia shouted with a pulsing nerve at the panting Ichigo.

"Well, why didn't you just go on without me?!" Ichigo shouted back even though he was still trying to catch his breath of exhaustion.

"That's completely besides the point." The raven-haired girl explained with crossed-arms as she looked away the opposite direction. Unbeknownst to her young friend, a tint of red was creeping by her cheeks.

"C'mon then, let's get going before we really do become late." Ichigo pointed out, now fully rested to continue on their way to school.

The walk wasn't at all adhering to the two. They do this often as they regularly run into each other during the aforementioned cross street. A lot of people see them always which could be the reason why students assume they're in some sort of relationship. (Refer to Chapter 7) But Ichigo and Rukia didn't really care what other people think, gossiping group of fellow students they see during their morning walk to school was the least of their worries.

"Ichigo, look at you, you're still injured and now you're tired out before even school started." Rukia said while they were crossing the street along the pedestrian lane.

"Rukia, I'm going to be fine, I've been through worse." Ichigo replied, putting on his tough guy exterior.

"Whatever." The raven-haired girl gave a short sigh as she disregarded his last comment. "So what made you late anyways?" she then asked.

"It's nothing. I got caught up with this TV show my sisters were watching." Ichigo explained.

"Which one?" she continued, they were both close to the school, it'd seem that they both weren't going to be late at all as long as they keep their current pace.

"It's about this guy and girl who fight evil spirits or something like that." The orange-head replied, he wasn't really paying complete attention to Karin and Yuzu earlier.

"Oh, I heard that's a really good show." Rukia brought up.

"Eh, I'm not really into animes." Ichigo replied.

"They can be pretty boring sometimes."

To Be Continued…

A/N: Man, I love irony! Just repeating from previous note from earlier, if I don't update in awhile it might mean that I'm focusing my full attention on one of my about to finish fics, ok? But I highly doubt that since this fic is one of my more popular ones and I'll probably fit in an update in between my schedule somewhere. This is Drew signing off, till my next chapter.

Peace out.


	14. Growing Pains and Problems

A/N: Two words people…summer school. I was going to finish and post this chapter earlier but you know, scheduling conflicts and all that. So anyways, I stayed up all night just so I can put this bad boy in the book. Do hope you guys are still there after all this time. Please read and review.

Chapter 14

Growing Pains and Problems

"I'm telling you Rukia that punk is nothing but trouble." Renji said in a husky tone. He was standing by the door of young Rukia Kichiki's room, warning the girl of the hassle she's been causing lately.

"He has a name Renji…it's Ichigo." The petite raven-haired girl protested, finding that Renji was being disrespectful of one of her closest friends. She wasn't really bothered by the red-head's ramblings, having grown up with him certainly made her know him like a sport's unabridged guide book.

She doesn't know what happened to her childhood friend. Ever since she was adopted as a sister to the noble Kuchiki family, things have been different from then on between them. Renji, feeling that he still had the need to watch over Rukia, became one of the body guards under Byakuya. And there they were, bickering, but she didn't mind. But most of all, she wondered. Whenever she and Ichigo fought, she didn't feel hurt or insecure despite any idiotic comment the orange-haired boy said. No matter how far they cross the line in an argument, Rukia always feels like she and Ichigo would always be alright in the end. As strange as it is.

"Rukia, are you even listening to me damn it?" Renji scolded again, waking the petite young girl from her thoughts.

"Y-yeah." She answered, shaking her head to focus back into reality again.

"See what I mean? See what's happening to you ever since you hanged out with that Ichigo-guy?" the tall red-haired young man said with a grim expression on his distinct eye brows.

"Why do always have to blame Ichigo whenever something bad happens?" Rukia suddenly defended, not taking it anymore from Abarai. "Do you ever stop to consider that the people around us aren't always the one to blame?" she then shouted at him, making him stop to consider the fact she pointed out.

Rukia then slammed the door hard in front of Renji, sealing him from her room for the night. The red-head just stood there, reconsidering what he just said straight hand at the girl and what she said back at him. He grumbled to himself before finally walking away.

"Ichigo…" he muttered to himself as he descended down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Rukia backed herself against the closed door. Forcing herself to not shed any tears. A young high school girl can only take so much, let alone enduring every trip to her own home as a police interrogation. She hugged her knees closer, trying to find peace within herself; shutting her eyes tight to just block out all the anger, the sadness, the hate.

(Oh My God, I can't take anymore of this drama! But I must!)

A couple of minutes passed and the petite raven-haired girl then heard stern knocks against her door. "Rukia, open the door immediately." She recognized the cold tone in the person's voice at hand. It was none other than her brother, Byakuya.

Sluggishly getting back up to her feet, she then opened like she was told, meeting the frightening gaze of the dark-haired young man. "What is it brother?" Rukia asked why he has there, standing by her doorway.

"I don't want you to see that Ichigo again." Byakuya then said straight out without the slightest consideration. The raven-haired girl's eyes shot wide open in shock. She couldn't believe what her older brother just ordered her to do.

"B-Brother…I can't do that." She answered with her head looking down.

"That is final. You are to stay away from him." Byakuya repeated himself before leaving her sister to her room. Rukia still couldn't believe it, her mind was swirling out of control and she didn't know what she was supposed to do.

_Th-This…can't be happening…_

Renji then emerged from the door as soon as he left, apparently over hearing everything that had just happened. Instead of feeling joyous over the news, he felt as shocked as Rukia was. "Rukia…I-I…didn't." he tried to explain, he himself didn't know of her brother's unforeseen decision. He then dropped quiet, his arms doing so as well as it dropped to his side. Finding that there wasn't much to say anymore, Renji simply left Rukia's room, trying to hide his worried concern.

The petite raven-haired girl crunched her fist as tight as she could. She didn't know whether she should feel angry or sad at the moment. Everything, her whole world seems falling apart in a quick instant yet again. Plopping head first against her bed, she covered her face with her pillow to cushion all the pains and tears.

_It's just not fair…NOT FAIR!_

Rukia then felt something soft brush against her elbow as she continued burying her head. She looked to see her Chappy, rested neatly on the bed right next to her. She wiped some of the tears of her soft, rosy cheeks as she picked up the stuffed animal. Rukia remembered the time she got that Chappy the Rabbit doll, a day she wouldn't forget, and then something came to her.

_There's only one thing to do now…_

Rukia then looked onward to see her window, wide open and the wind flowing through its curtains.

"If you guys don't mind, I'll be eating my dinner upstairs." Ichigo scowled as he took his plate and made his way towards the stairs.

"Why Ichigo?" Yuzu asked sweetly and politely as to wondering why her older brother wouldn't eat with the rest of the family.

"I just want some peace and quiet, ok?" Ichigo replied, trying not to be offensive in any way towards his sister. He then ascended up the stairs without another word, his plate of food in hand.

"What's wrong with that boy now?" Isshin questioned before taking a rather large bite of his meal.

"What do you think? He was still a bit angry about what you did when Rukia was here." Karin answered with her usual tone.

"WHAT? ME? WHAT DID I DO?!" their estranged father reacted impulsively like a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Meanwhile…

Ichigo set his plate down on his nearby desk, taking a deep sigh in embrace of the quiet atmosphere. He then oddly noticed that his window was left wide open. "I thought I closed the window before I went down." He said to himself as he walked over to lock it shut.

The orange-haired 15 year old then stopped afterwards as he heard a strange rumbling noise from his closet.

_What the...?_

It was his room and his family is downstairs eating meaning he was suppose to be the only person here. Not even thinking twice, he proceeded towards his closet with extreme caution.

_A burglar?_

He took hold of the handle and slowly slid open the closet door, the edges rusting against the metal frames of the wall, when…

"ARGHHHHH!!!"

Ichigo screamed after a girl suddenly popped out of nowhere. He then stopped to realize after getting a good look to who it was. "R-Rukia?" he asked, surprised as if he just saw a ghost.

"Ichigo, I can explain."

To Be Continued…

A/N: I'm desperate for some reviews right now, it's been awhile and I want to know if you guys are still alive and well…and reading my fic more importantly. Please read and review.


	15. New Roommate Issues

A/N: What's up everybody? I hope you guys are having an awesome summer, I know I'm not -- anyways, I left a lot of questions unanswered in my last chapter due to my usual annoying cliffhangers but no worries, here's the update and I hope you guys enjoy it. Please review ok? I haven't been getting them on rare occasions nowadays.

Chapter 15

New Roommate Issues

"ARGHHHHH!!!"

Ichigo screamed when a girl suddenly popped out of his closet. The thrill expression seemed like he just saw a ghost. But he then stopped after getting a good look of who it was. "R-Rukia?" he asked unsurely.

"Ichigo, I can explain." Rukia said, hopping down from the roomy closet. The orange-head noticed that the young girl was hoisting her backpack over her shoulders, the same one she uses at school but this time it looked more packed than before. More importantly, Ichigo noticed the look on her face. She was sad, confused, and hopeless right now; something was indeed wrong.

"Rukia, what are you doing here?" the orange-haired high school student asked with a raised brow added to his usual scowl.

"I ran away from home!" She then blurted out, feeling guilty of admitting it.

"What? Why the hell did you do that?!" Ichigo asked with a bit of a raised voice, pointing out that his friend just made a reckless decision.

"You don't understand…" Rukia started but stopped to reconsider if she would tell him the whole story.

"Understand what?" he pushed for an explanation, having your high school classmate just come out of your very own closet in the middle of the night certainly is no easy thing to come by.

"Renji and my brother was treating me badly…let's just leave it to that." The raven-haired girl replied shorthanded, looking away to avoid Ichigo's eyes.

_Ichigo, please don't make this more complicated than it is…_

"Renji? You mean, Renji Abarai?" Ichigo then asked, recognizing the name from before.

"You know him?!" Rukia demanded all of the sudden with a worried tone. She feared that conflicts with the two would mean bad news.

"Yeah, ran into him a while back, threatened me to say away from you. Didn't buy it." The orange-head flashed back, scratching the back of his neck.

"_Maybe you should've just taken his word for it."_ She mumbled under her breath.

"You say something?" Ichigo asked, thinking he might've overheard something she said.

"It's…nothing." Rukia sighed in an effort to drain out all the stress being pressed down unto her at the moment.

"So, you're staying here?" the 15-year old high school student confirmed while walking back to his desk to look up his untouched dinner plate.

"Can I?" Rukia asked innocently, her eyes gleaming as if there was no other choice than this. Ichigo let out a long sigh of his own as he eased back on his desk chair.

"What happens when my family catches you here?" he then asked hypothetically.

"I'll just room in your closet, it's really cozy in there and I fit in without a problem." She pointed out. "Ichigo…?" she was desperate for an answer though she tried to remain as calm as possible.

"Just let me finish my dinner." He replied as he was eating quietly in his desk.

Minutes pass that appeared to be an eternity for the raven-haired girl, it was already a huge risk that she was here that night. Her whole resolve would be crushed in an instant if Ichigo disagreed from letting her stay, she can't blame him. If he chose to help her, he would be getting himself involved in this madness. If he got hurt, Rukia would never forgive herself ever again. But she mentally begged her high school classmate to say yes, no matter what the risk may be. Somehow, she wanted to be here, to be with him.

"Alright…fine, you can stay." Ichigo finally decided before getting up from his seat. "But be more quiet if you're going to live in my closet." He remarked from what happened earlier.

_Thank you Ichigo…Thank you again…_

Rukia managed to form a gentle smile on her lips. She was happy that after hearing what he just said, but deep down she still feared the fact that her brother can still find her. It maybe not today, nor tomorrow, but it is inevitable.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Ichigo asked, waking the petite girl from her thoughts. He had his empty plate in hand, finished already. Thinking if the young lady wanted something to eat, it'd be convenient when he's about to go down to get more food right about now.

"Uh…no, not really." Rukia replied…or…lied is more like it as her stomach then grumbled, breaking the palpable silence. The noise echoing around the 15-year old's room. She blushed shyly, being caught red handed that she really was indeed hungry.

"Stay here. I'll go get you something to eat." Ichigo said without further question, before walking out of his room. Rukia was a bit speechless over the embarrassment.

_Ok, I'm just going to go down real quick without drawing any attention whatsoever…_

Downstairs, Ichigo filled his plate with enough food for not only himself but for his secret visitor as well. "Ichigo, you're filling your plate with awfully more food than you normally eat." Yuzu then noticed as she was looking at her brother in the same dinning table.

"Oh…uh…I'm just hungry, that's all." Ichigo replied with a suspicious grin, not expecting he'd be cross-examined that early on the whole affair.

"But you've already had one helping." Karin questioned with a raised brow which only caused the older brother to sweat in nervousness even more.

"And why are you taking two plates?" Yuzu continued asking; now pointing out the second plate that Ichigo was holding under his first one. He snuck one from the kitchen earlier but his cover his now without a doubt exposed.

"Look, I'm just hungry, ok?!" the orange-head hastily replied before rushing back up his room again to escape his family.

"What was that all about?" Isshin asked concerning his son, his mouth filled with food he's chewing.

"I have no idea." Karin commented with the same confused expression as the rest of them.

Ichigo immediately shut the door close the moment he got into the safety of his room. "That was close." He said, trying to catch his breath even for a second. Regaining his composure, Ichigo then set the two plates he got down and offered Rukia some dinner hospitably. Rukia felt uneasy as she took her plate, not only was he letting her room but also give her food. She thought to herself that maybe someday, she'll be able to repay Ichigo Kurosaki for all he's done for her.

Some time passed and the two ate quietly, the slightest noise could easily raise suspicion and might force someone to take a look at the young man's room. "So what happens next?" the orange-head asked before taking the last bite of his meal.

"I don't know." Rukia replied, her plate already clean as a whistle. "Look Ichigo…" she then started. "Thanks for letting me stay, I hope you don't mind-"

"Don't mention it." Ichigo interrupted as he already heard what needed to be heard from her. He felt like she's been through a lot this whole day and it'd be wrong if he kept stressing her out even more.

Suddenly, a faint knock on the door sounded off which in turn shot open Ichigo and Rukia's eyes in panic.

_Damn it! I forgot to lock the door…_

"Ichigo, can I come in?" Yuzu asked politely from the other side of the door.

"Hang on a sec!" Ichigo made himself sound as calm as possible but failed to do so. He then signaled Rukia to hide. Nodding in nervousness, she wasted little time jumping back in the safety of Ichigo's closet.

Just in the nick of time, Yuzu entered the 15-year old's room as soon as Ichigo was able to close the closet door. "Something wrong Ichigo?" Yuzu questioned, seeing that her older brother was backing against his closet as if he was hiding something.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. So what are you doing here anyways?" Ichigo said, trying to fight the nervousness building up in side him; sweat running down his face and his hands shaking hastily.

"Oh, Karin thought that she heard you talking to somebody upstairs so she wanted me to go check up on you." She explained before taking a quick survey of the room.

"I was just…um…" Ichigo tried his best to force his brain to come up with an answer. "I was just talking to myself! Yeah, that's it. Just here, talking to myself. Certainly no one here other than me if that's what you're trying to find." He then replied ridiculously. Yuzu gave a raised brow of how incredibly strange her dear brother has been acting as of late.

"Well, I guess nothing's wrong here, goodnight and see you tomorrow morning Ichigo." Yuzu bade a farewell before finally exiting from the room. As soon as she did, the orange-haired high school student immediately locked the door which he forgot to do so earlier.

"Is she gone?" Rukia asked from inside the closet.

"Yeah…" Ichigo replied, panting yet again then sitting down with his back against the door.

"Ok, that was REALLY close." The petite raven-haired girl said as she opened the closet door slightly and snuck her head out.

"We might need to work on our excuses…" Ichigo said in annoyance, thinking back at his lame excuse to his young sister.

"_Talking to myself" what the hell was I thinking?_

To Be Continued…

A/N: Like this chapter? Then show me how much you do by…yeah, you guessed it! Sending me reviews! Please do, ok? I'm begging you. Well guess this is it, until my next update you guys.

Peace out.


	16. Lasting the Night

A/N: Really sorry you guys for these annoying and frustrating gaps in between my updates, I'm starting to hate myself for it too. Even in the middle of summer, my schedule is packed as ever and I find time to type something in the computer on very few occasions. Again, real sorry, I'll try my best to get myself back up to my week per week update.

Chapter 16  
Lasting the Night

"There, that should do it…" Ichigo remarked as he gave one last exertion of energy.

"Thanks Ichigo." Rukia said with a tiring sigh. The two were just about finished getting a futon mattress inside the closet. Since the young petite raven-haired girl was staying, she needed something to sleep in. Nonetheless, forcing it to fit into the small closet was no easy task to accomplish.

The rest of the night was quiet since dinner subsided, looks like one check up was more than enough from Ichigo's suspicious sisters, for now that is. "Here." Ichigo then threw a pillow straight at Rukia, not minding the force he put in the throw. It plummet across her forehead and made her head snap backwards.

"What was that for?!" she growled back at him with a pulsing nerve replacing her light bump.

"It's a pillow. It's for you to sleep in." The orange-haired 15-year old replied sarcastically, ignoring her comment as he walked over to his own bed to lie down. Putting an arm over his head, he stared vividly at the ceiling like always, trying to catch up on everything that's happened so far.

_This certainly is one hell of a day. _He thought to himself.

The same pillow suddenly flew over in Ichigo's direction, hitting him squarely across the jaw. Knocking him out of his thoughts and knocking him off his bed. "Hey!" he grumbled with a scowl as he emerged from the side of the bed he fell on.

"You deserved it." The raven-haired girl said, crossing her arms and looking the opposite way in her simple yellow dress.

"Why you little…" Ichigo threatened menacingly, like steam was about to burst out of his ears at any second. He then took a deep sigh to calm himself down. He figured if any more ruckuses happen it might raise suspicion again. "Look, can we just get some sleep?" he suggested, his scowl not letting down.

Some time passed and the two got ready to call it a day, Ichigo sat near his open window, letting the night breeze pass through his spiky bleached hair. Soon after, Rukia got out of her new closet she now calls a room, wearing a fitting checkerboard yellow pair of pajamas, a pair that Ichigo recognized all too well.

"Is that my sister pajamas?!" he pointed out in meek surprise.

"Yeah, why?" Rukia replied.

"How'd you…? When'd you….?" The orange-haired young man tried to ask but fails to complete a logical question in shear shock.

"I snuck in your sister's room while you were downstairs awhile ago." She simply explained without the slightest hesitation.

"What, are you crazy?! If my family finds you here, do you know how much trouble I'm going to be in?!" Ichigo pointed out, still finding it hard to believe how big of a risk his friend just took.

"Ichigo, don't worry, even you didn't notice me go in there." She said, straightening out the sleeves of the pajamas she was wearing. "Besides, you don't expect me to go to bed with nothing to wear. I only have my school uniform with me."

The 15-year old blushed a bit after hearing her mention such a thing. Ichigo was never the kind of guy to be into such demeaning subjects. Normally Keigo's the one to fit the description for that. But hearing her, of all people, say it out loud certainly breached his guard for a split second.

"You okay?" Rukia then asked, seeing that he's spacing out all of the sudden.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." He answered hastily to make up for lost time.

_Damn it, why'd she have to say that._

"Well, goodnight Ichigo." The petite raven-haired girl said as she took one of the spare blankets her friend laid for her and finally hoped in the organized closet. Closing it behind her, Ichigo took one last sigh as he too went over to his own bed.

The room was eventually quiet, lights closed with nothing but the moonlight piercing through the wide open window accompanied by the swift midnight breeze. Kurosaki had his arms support the back of his head, lying motionless on the mattress; his eyes still wide open and awake.

_I guess it's not so bad that she's staying…_

_I got nothing to worry about…_

_She can get around the house without gathering any attention at all…_

_And other than that,_

_I get to spend a lot more time with her._

_Wait…_

_Did I just say that?_

Ichigo raised a brow to himself, ironically bewildered by his own thoughts.

_I can't like her…_

_Can I?_

_I mean, we're just friends…_

He took another deep breath, finally pushing the lingering facts circling in his head. He shut his eyes close, forcing it to take not one more peek, thinking it might ease his uncertainty.

_Nah, I'm just over reacting…_

_Maybe the stress is starting to nail me in the noggin._

_A goodnight's sleep will get my head straight._

The orange-haired young man then moved up his bed cover and rolling over to his side, he finally drifted off into slumber.

Meanwhile, Rukia was having sleeping problems of her own. She crossed one leg over the other as she too was just lying on her bed while still wide awake.

_Can't get any sleep…_she thought to herself.

She looked around where she was, with nothing but the confinement of the closet space meeting her gaze. _Maybe I'm just not used to being in here just yet. _The raven-haired girl then sat up right on her mattress. She checked up on the watch wrapped around her slim wrist, it read 1:14, meaning it was still half the night.

_I wonder if Ichigo's still awake…_

Thought at hand, she cautiously slid her closet door and peered through and into the 15-year old boy's room. Rukia couldn't see anything except for the blink moonlight shinning from across the window. Now fully opening the door, she saw Ichigo peacefully lying on his bed, his back facing her.

He mumbled in his sleep, although Rukia couldn't make up what he was saying. Tossing and turning as well, the orange-head turned as he now was facing upward.

The raven-haired girl could see his chest rhythmically move up and down through the blankets covering ¾ of his body. Hoping down from her closet, she walked over to him, her footsteps not even making the slightest thud or creak.

Rukia took a seat at the edge of the bed, causing very little rumbles so it wouldn't wake Ichigo. She carefully examined his features, his face very calm and peaceful without his prominent scowl. Someone, she felt entranced by his silent demour accompanied by the tints of red creeping up her face. _Ichigo…_she muttered under her breath.

Instinctively, her hand made it way to his cheek, cupping it, feeling the warmth of his face under her fingertips. "R-Rukia..." He mumbled in his sleep which made Rukia take her hand back to herself. The petite girl's eyes then shot wide open after hearing what he just said.

_I-Is he dreaming about me?_

_Thinking about me right now?_

Ichigo moved about again, he toss and turned into the opposite direction, his back now facing Rukia once more. Taking a deep sigh, she thought it'd be wise to return to her bed before anything else happens. Sneaking back into the safety of the closet , the raven-haired girl brought the covers up to her chin as she laid down on her bed.

_Ichigo…I'm not sure about this… _she thought hazily.

_But I think I'm falling for you…_

Rukia then closed her eyes as her tiredness got the best of her and took her fast asleep.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Really worked hard on this chapter, you guys. I hope you liked it, please review, ok? That's it for now…

Peace out.


	17. A Walk in the Park

A/N: Thank the lord that summer school is almost over. Hopefully, and I do mean "hopefully" I'll get some more time to write up this fic. Anyways, here's the update. Enjoy and please review.

Chapter 17  
A Walk in the Park

Early morning in the Kurosaki household, the sun rising from the partly open window and shinning down upon the fair brown wooden floors. Young Ichigo Kurosaki has just woken up from the most troubled night he'd ever sought through or so it seems. After dressing out of his simple night clothes, he gave faint knocks against the closet door to wake his roommate. "Rukia, rise and shine." He ranted with his usual scowl. He then heard the rummages subtly erupting from the other side of the door. Apparently Rukia Kuchiki didn't have that peaceful of a sleep last night either.

"Ichigo, not so loud, someone might hear." She said, finally sliding open the closet door, her raven-colored hair unruly and covering part of her young face.

"C'mon already, let's go get breakfast." Ichigo requested before marching himself over to the door. A bit confused over her friend's behavior, Rukia had no other choice but to follow him. She knew he wasn't that reckless or insensitive to tell on her so soon nor would he take huge chances without definite reasons.

"You sure it's safe to go down?" Rukia asked just to be reassuring as she and the orange-haired 15-year old descended down from the safety of his…or should I say, "Their" room.

"I overheard my dad talking about some sort of ordeal in the city hospital the other day. He took my sisters along with him like he always does so nobody's here but us." Ichigo replied with his hands shuffled inside his pant's pockets. The raven-haired girl let out a simple sigh in relief after he finally pointed that out. "You didn't think I'm stupid enough to let you wander around with everybody here?" he added.

"Well, it's just good to be out of your room every once and awhile." Rukia replied. She then stretched her arms about; her body's curves creasing even through Yuzu's fitting pajamas. Ichigo's face light up a bit as he caught an off-guard glimpse, he immediately turned away and shook his head as her image like that just got cemented into his head.

"_DAMN IT"! _He thought to himself as her awkward pose continued to buzz about in his subconscious.

"Why, something wrong with my room?" he then questioned deliberately to hide his embarrassment, putting his usual scowl back up the moment he regained his composure.

"It's not that…it's just…" Rukia didn't expect him to actually ask for a distinct answer. "Just…" she laid a finger at her chin as she thought hard for a good reason.

"Just what, huh?" Ichigo pushed for an answer with a raised brow.

"You know what, let's just have breakfast ok?" Mentally blocked at the moment, the raven-haired girl tried to change the subject as she then rummaged through the nearby cupboards.

Finishing breakfast, the pair sat on opposing ends of the short ended dinner table. An awkward silence immediately took hold. With the exception of the empty breakfast plates, there was nothing standing in the way between Ichigo and Rukia from meeting eye to eye. With faint tints of red creeping on both their young faces, they couldn't help but look away to escape the entrancing gaze into each other.

"M-Maybe I should get dressed." Rukia struttered, taking note that she was still in her stolen pajamas. Getting up from her side of the table, she returned and walked up the stairs back into Ichigo's room. Ichigo let out a sigh as he was alone and disappointed about himself, yet…he didn't know why.

_What the hell is wrong with me this morning?_

Giving her some time to herself, it wasn't long until the orange-head headed upstairs as well. "You done in there?" he asked as he knocked on his own door to his room, making sure that he wasn't about to walk in on her while she dresses.

"Yeah," She heard her reply from the other side.

Ichigo turned the knob and let himself in; he looked to see that Rukia was quietly sitting by the open window, now dressed in a simple blue dress. "A little more and you'll fall out the window." He remarked with his usual scowl as he slumped himself unto his chair.

"Ichigo, let's go to the park today." Rukia then requested all of the sudden while staring vividly outside.

"Huh?"

"You know. The park, let's go to the park today." She repeated before hoping down away from the open window, her violet eyes still carrying the same question.

"Eh, sure, got nothing better to do anyway." Ichigo replied.

Later...

Hours to noon, Ichigo and Rukia traversed the Karakura Public Park. With the same sun shinning down, the green trees fluttering about in the wind in the middle of spring and although there were very few people, kids can be seen happily playing in the nearby playground. "So, why did you want to go to the park?" Ichigo asked, walking alongside the petite young girl.

"I don't know, I just felt like going here." She replied as a playful smile spread across her face, taking calm views of the simple scenery. Ichigo couldn't help but smile as well, seeing her peaceful and happy from the corner of his eye.

Some time passed and the two just continued their stroll, admiring their view of the quiet environment, the toddlers running about, and passing awkward glances of each other even.

All was well…or so it seems.

Rukia stopped all of the sudden, her eyes glistening with fear and shock. "Rukia, what's wrong?" Ichigo asked worryingly seeing the major shift in expression on her young face. The raven-haired girl then pushed the 15-year old into a nearby bush, tackling him off his feet and hiding themselves in the furnishing greens. "What the hell?" the orange-head said, trying to scramble back to his feet but Rukia only forced him down even more by yanking him by his shirt collar. "Rukia, what are you doing?!" he asked alarmingly, nearly choked by his own clothes.

"Shut up Ichigo and keep your head down!" she explained, giving a "shush" gesture for him to keep his voice down. The petite young girl then peered cautiously over the bush they were in.

_Oh no, please not here…of all places…_

From beyond the horizon, she saw the unflinching dark-colored hair of somebody she recognized all too well. Her older brother, Byakuya, was walking along the park premises himself. His cold emotionless eyes were locked forward as he strolled across the sun lithe pathway. "Whose that?" Rukia heard Ichigo whisper to her from behind.

"I-It's my brother." She replied uneasily, the cold aura of her older sibling felt even from a thorough distance.

Byakuya seem not minding of his surroundings as he just ignored the people crossing his way. Why he was here in the first place was beyond the question, Rukia never saw her brother as the type of guy who'll open up the first time you ask. More importantly, he must be aware of her absence by now, letting him see her here would mean trouble for not only her, but for Ichigo as well.

"He's coming this way!" the petite girl blurted out, seeing that the dreadful figure of Byakuya was coming closer and closer near the bush they were hiding in. Rukia then tackled Ichigo once again and pinned him to the ground with her weight to increase their cover as Byakuya Kuchiki passed by them inconspicuously.

Seconds past until the two finally steered clear of the older brother. Both of them letting out a large sigh in relief, Ichigo grunted as he lay flat on the floor with Rukia on top of him. "Rukia, I think he's gone now." He pointed out from under her. Finding himself in another awkward position with the young girl, his face as red as a strawberry.

It wasn't long until the raven-haired girl noticed the position they were in as well. And she blushed as madly as Ichigo in turn, too embarrassed to even move and get off of him. There she was lying on top of her orange-hared friend, their faces dead close and their lips only inches apart. Gazing into each others eyes, both of them couldn't help but to never get up.

Ichigo felt her warm breath brush against his lips. Her petite body pressed against his, he felt the rhythm of her heart go faster as he continued to look into her violet-colored eyes with his brown ones.

Meanwhile, a tall brown-haired young man sat patiently at the park bench. Crumbling bits of bread in his strong yet gentle hands, he lightly threw them on the ground and in short while a couple of birds flew about and ate them. Yasutora Chad took some more bread from the small bag he had and crumbled some more to feed the birds.

The gentle giant was one of Ichigo's trusting friends and loyal classmates in Karakura High. Always been there to back the 15-year old up whenever trouble rears its ugly head. Although a muscular and intimidating young man, Chad wasn't always the kind of person to throw a punch. Even when his body takes inhuman damage, it's not in his nature to strike an offensive blow unless in dire need to do so.

Chad suddenly heard a strange rummaging from the bush behind the bench he was sitting on. Thinking it was only some random squirrel or critter, he ignored the disturbance. But the rummaging only continued. Finally gained enough curiosity to see what it was, Chad got up from his seat and went over behind his bench.

Brushing some of the green leaves out of the way, Chad gave a raised brow through his thick unruly hair as he saw who it was all along. "Ichigo…Rukia…is that you?" he asked in his usual stoic tone.

Ichigo's eyes trailed off from Rukia and then shot wide open as he saw his towering friend, Chad, peering through the bushes. "CHAD!" he said alarmingly, incidentally caught. Rukia woke from her earlier trance as well as she noticed the brown-haired young man and immediately got up back to her feet in embarrassment. "Chad, that wasn't what it looked like!" Ichigo tried to explain as he squabbled back up from the ground.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry…to bother you." Chad replied, expressionless as always.

"Look Chad, nothing was going on in there!" Ichigo said, his face about to explode because of the blushes erupting all at once.

"Y-yeah, you see we weren't hiding in there because of…um…" Rukia did her best to explain as well but her face was lighting up like a box of fireworks.

"Again, I'm sorry, I think I best be going now." The gentle giant announced before finally walking away from the couple. Emerging from the bushes, he gathered up all his belongings with him and started making his way out of the park.

"Chad wait!" Ichigo called out as he came out of their hiding spot along with Rukia but all they got in reply from Yasutora was his hand waving goodbye at them from behind.

"This is bad…this is REALLY bad." The orange-haired 15-year old said nervously.

"I know. He looks like the kind of guy that'll without a doubt tell everybody in school about this!" the petite raven-haired girl added, matching the same expression as her young friend.

"Huh?" Ichigo wondered with a raised brow over what Rukia just said.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Long Chapter, WOHOO! I hope you guys didn't mind but I had a lot of ideas coming right at me all at the same time while I was typing this in. We've been getting a little too much drama lately that I've decided to balance out the weighing scale with a little old fashion _Bleach_ style humor. Hope you liked this chapter, please review…please.


	18. Nothing But Problematic

A/N: Hello everybody, thank the Lord that summer school is over. Now I can focus on some of the more important things in my life, like playing video games and typing up this update of course. Anyways, that said and done, here's the new chapter. Enjoy and please review.

Chapter 18  
Nothing But Problematic

"Ichigo…"

"Ichigo…Ichigo…" a female voice buzzed about in his ears yet everything else was pitch-black. "Hey, Ichigo…" the enchanting voice continued.

"WAKE UP!"

"ARGHHHHHHH!!! CHAD, IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Ichigo blurted out as he bounced up right from his bed after the mysterious voice suddenly shouted at him. Panting heavily, he looked around to find himself still in his room with Rukia, already in her school uniform, standing near his bedside.

"What on Earth we're you dreaming about?" the raven-haired girl asked with a raised brow.

"It's nothing." Ichigo said with a deep sigh, getting a grip of himself as he got up from bed. "What time is it?" he then asked.

"Almost time for school, that's why I was trying to wake you up." Rukia replied, taking her bag from the closet and hanging it over her shoulder.

She turned back to Ichigo who was just standing there with his usual scowl, looking at her impatiently. "What?" she asked confusingly, not knowing what he was trying to imply.

"Well, I can't get suited up if you're out here." The orange-head pointed out.

"Oh right, sorry…" the petite girl just realized, she blushed madly over the fact that they're discussing this sort of thing again. "I'll just be in here then." She said, hoping back into her closet then closing the door shut.

_We need figure out what to do with this privacy thing… _Ichigo thought as he reached down his dresser for his school uniform. A couple of minutes and soon he was in his fitting gray school attire. Checking for his books and supplies, he picked up his bag as well. "Ok, I'm done." He announced while he walked towards the door, signaling Rukia that it's ok to get out of the closet now.

The raven-haired girl slid the closet open, stepping back out quietly. "Ichigo, wait…" she then called for his attention, making him stop just by the archway of the door to look back and see what she's got to say. "How do I get down without anybody seeing me?"

Ichigo placed a finger on his chin as he was trying to come up with a good answer.

…

"That's how you came in before?" the orange-head asked as he and Rukia stared down on the street from aloft in their window. They peered over how high it was even for a simple two storey house. "Can't you go down like you how you went up?" he added.

"Are you crazy? I'm going to get myself killed!" Rukia defended aggravatingly. "Climbing up was the easy part but I thought you'd figure how I'm going to get out." She explained.

The 15-year old young man scratched the back of his head in lost of thought. "Hang on. Give me a second to think."

…

Ichigo snuck his bright head out from the arch of his doorway suspiciously. He surveyed the hallway to and fro if any of his sisters or maybe even his dad were still there. "Ok the coast is clear." Ichigo whispered back to Rukia.

The duo then took cautious steps out of the safety of their room, they tried their very best not to make the slightest noise, sneaking like a couple of Looney Tunes characters you'd normally see on typical Saturday morning cartoons.

"I'll check downstairs, stay here." The orange-haired 15 year old said in a hushed tone. He then descended half way down the staircase. Crouching down and leaning sideways, Ichigo scouted the bottom floor of the Kurosaki residence like before. No one was there but he still heard the sizzling noise of something being cooked on a pan. "Ok, they're in the kitchen, now's our chance." He reported back to the petite girl. Moving a bit hastier, Ichigo and Rukia stealthily went down the stairs.

"CREAK!" a sound suddenly erupted as Rukia's foot eased down on one of the steps.

"SHHHHHHH!" Ichigo scolded with a gesture for her to be quieter. Nodding in reply, the two continued down.

It wasn't long 'till they eventually made their way by the door, Rukia grasped the knob and turned it slightly. The interlocking chambers of the lock made a clicking sound that pierced through the silence.

The raven-haired girl already tilted the door ajar and opened it halfway when…

"Ichigo, is that you?" Ichigo and Rukia suddenly heard Yuzu ask from the kitchen followed by the faint steps of the little girl tapping against the hard wood floor.

_Oh crap! _The two thought in unison.

The sound of the younger sister's little slippers clamper only got louder making Ichigo more and more nervous, he looked at Rukia who was looking back from in front of the door and still barely moving due to shock and fear of getting caught.

_Got to do something! _His mind screaming for a solution

Out of desperation, Ichigo quickly unleashed a powerful kick at Rukia from behind, forcing her right out of the door and sending her straight out of the house just in the nick of time. "Ichigo, it is you." Yuzu remarked, finally catching up to her older brother.

"Y-Yeah, I was just going to school." The orange-head replied uneasily, making it seem that _he _was the one by the door.

"Oh, what about breakfast?" the younger Kurosaki asked caringly, her bright yellow apron covered with a couple of stains and greases from making the food.

"No no, it's ok, I think I best be going now. Don't want to be late!" He said before immediately rushing out of the door and closing it shut behind him. Yuzu simply made an awfully confused expression as to how suspicious her older brother acted yet again.

"Rukia, where are you?" Ichigo called about in a hushed voice as he scanned the street by their house, now knowing what happened to his petite friend after he literally kicked her out of the house. The 15-year old suddenly felt a hard fist pound him right on his head from behind.

"ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"THAT WAS FOR KICKING ME IN THE BUTT!" Rukia shouted angrily at him as he was clutching the top his head in pain.

"NOT MY FAULT YOU WERE BARELY MOVING!" Ichigo shouted back, still bothered by the sore on his head. The pair gave shoot each other frightening death glares as if their eyes were emitting bolts of electricity.

"Hey, whose making such a racket out there?!" Ichigo and Rukia then heard Isshin, Ichigo's father, complain from inside the clinic. The two forgot that they were still near the house and just realized they were screaming at each other maniacally.

They froze from their fight and looked at each other thinking what to do next before they're spotted. With very little options left at hand, the two high school students suddenly ran as fast as they could, drawing as much distance from the Kurosaki residence as possible.

…

"Damn, that was another close one." Ichigo tried to make up words in between his lost breaths, keeping himself standing by the school front gates.

"Don't remind me." Rukia added as she too was panting heavily. The morning bell rang afterwards, signaling everybody that it was time to make their way to class. "Now, let's just have an ordinary day of school." The raven-haired girl remarked.

"Yeah," Kurosaki agreed as they both entered the corridors, headed for the same class.

"I still can't believe you kicked me…" Rukia remarked in annoyance, slightly blushing on the fact that he kicked her right in her butt of all places.

"Would you just drop it? You didn't leave with much of a choice." The young man alongside her replied.

It wasn't long until the duo found themselves in their class, Rukia marched over to her seat while Ichigo followed and took his seat (which coincidentally happens to be next to her) The orange-head stopped all of the sudden after his eyes trailed off to somebody sitting up on front where a tall brown-haired student sat quietly

Ichigo then remembered what happened yesterday in the park. A thought that shot his eyes open the moment it raised across his mind.

_Awww crap, Chad…_

Later,

The average lunch break bell rang in the school campus of Karakura High School. Young teenage students ranging from freshman to senior wander about on the grounds and classes. Some with their groups and hang outs, their matching school uniforms shun upon the meek afternoon sun.

Ichigo Kurosaki paced himself nervously along the enclosed staircase that lead to the rooftop where he normally has lunch with his friends, one of which is Yasutora Chad.

He swallowed hard, making a large lump slide down his throat as he flashed back the incident that occurred in the park yesterday...

Rukia thought I'd be nice if they took a peaceful stroll through the park, by God was she wrong. All's fair until the unthinkable happened. They ran into Rukia's older brother, Byakuya. So they wouldn't get caught, the raven-haired girl pushed Ichigo right into the bushes to hide. Sure, it worked and Byakuya didn't see them but unfortunately…Chad did.

And now here he is, nothing but the door standing between him and total embarrassment in front of his friends. Ichigo reached for the knob, turning it as sluggishly as he could.

_This isn't all bad; maybe they're not going to be here like that one time… _the orange-head tried his best to be as optimistic as possible.

But his quick optimism was quickly broken in half when he opened the door and met his group of friends first hand. "Ichigo, you made it!" Keigo called out as he was sitting in a circle with the others, busily eating.

_Damn it!_

Wishing he could've just picked a different place to eat, Ichigo walked over to join the others. He sat in his usual place and began prepping his lunch, he took uneasy glimpses at Chad, trying to figure out if he was going to tell everybody about the whole dilemma or not. The gentle giant simply took bites off his sandwich, his eyes covered by his thick unruly hair.

"Ichigo…" Chad suddenly said in his usual deep and stoic tone, making the orange-haired 15-year old's heart jump all of the sudden.

"Y-yeah Chad?" he asked nervously, beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead as if he was about to explode at any second.

_OH GOD, HERE IT COMES!_

"Do you have any spare change?" the muscular young man asked. "I'm going to buy myself a drink."

Ichigo let out a rather large sigh the moment he heard his friend ask something indifferent. "Yeah, here…" he replied, although still shaken, as he reached in his pocket and handed Chad a couple of quarters.

"Thanks." Chad said as he stood up and towered over the whole group before walking over to the exit and descending down the stairs.

"I think I'm going to get myself something to drink too." Ichigo then remarked soon after Chad left, making up a reason to follow his quiet, muscular friend. Not minded by the others, he got up and left the rooftop in pursuit.

Moments later, the orange-head searched around the nearly deserted corridors of the school. All the other students were busy down on the grounds presumably, during lunch time only very few people usually spend time on the upper floors.

As he wandered about, it wasn't long until he caught sight of the gentle giant. "Chad…" he called his attention as he walked up to meet up with him. Yasutora simply stood expressionless, the juice box he just bought in hand.

"Chad, I need to talk to you…" Ichigo started.

"If this is about yesterday, don't worry about it." Chad suddenly interrupted with his deep stoic tone, earning a raised brow from the orange-head.

"Look Chad, what happened in the park…" Ichigo tried to explain, looking up to the much taller student.

"It's ok Ichigo, I'm not going to tell anybody." The gentle giant replied, putting a large amount of relief on the 15-year old's shoulders.

"Seriously?" the orange-haired young man asked reassuring while Chad simply nodded to his question. "Thanks Chad, I owe you another one."

"Ichigo, can I just ask you something?"

"Sure…"

"Do you have…feelings for Rukia?"

Ichigo stopped for a moment as he didn't expect Chad to ask such a question. It's always been the same question that's haunting his mind for so long. Until now he himself hasn't answered it, not even pieced a fraction to the solution. To hear it from somebody else, only raised the enigma behind it.

"W-Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Chad replied before starting to walk back to the rooftop, leaving Ichigo to ponder upon himself.

"I just thought you two would make a good pair." Ichigo heard Chad say before he disappeared around the corner.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Man, this chapter was seriously no walk in the park. Even know I'm still having doubts if I did a good job on it. Oh well, only one way to find out, you guys will have to review it. Thanks for reading, until the next chapter.

Peace out.


	19. Some New People at Work

A/N: Hey guys, hard to believe that even though summer school is over I'm still over-booked with work. I was lucky I've managed to work this through out my free time and finally finish it today. What added to the hiatus was lost of thought, I've been suffering from my fair share of writer's block these past couple of days and it certainly is a nuisance. Anyways, that said and done, here's the update.

Chapter 19  
Some New People at Work

"Jinta, Mister Tessai wanted us to sweep the front of the shop!" a meek little girl pleaded in a humble tone. With a bamboo broom in hand, she timidly swept about the front of the Urahara shop, her black hair in neat side ponytails doused under the bright afternoon sun.

"Shut up Ururu, I'll start sweeping when I feel like it." An arrogant young boy replied, sitting lazily with his back against the wall of the shop. His bright red hair combed back over his fierce bleak eyes.

The two children continued their work in front of the wood-built shop with the red-haired kid simply slacking off while the little girl was doing all the work. It wasn't long until the long road leading from the venue revealed a familiar duo in the horizon.

"Hey you kids, get lost!" Ichigo rambled with a stiff scowl as he, alongside Rukia Kuchiki, made their way towards the Urahara shop.

"Who do you think you are, trying to boss me around, carrot-top?!" Jinta talked back with a vein pulsing on his forehead. Ichigo towered over the boy as he stood in front of him with an intimidating growl.

"Considering I can crush you with my foot, I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you." The 15-year old said as he crouched down to stare at the red-head eye-to-eye. Rukia simply sighed to herself, thinking that it's already enough that Ichigo alone was going around terrorizing kids.

"You mean this foot!" Jinta taunted as he planted his sneakers straight down into Kurosaki's foot.

"OWWWWW! Why you little!" Ichigo shouted in pain as he hopped around on one leg while holding the other one that just got crushed. Rukia couldn't help but laugh to herself, seeing her friend prance around ridiculously.

The commotion was soon interrupted as someone emerged from within the Urahara Shop. "Ah, Mr. Kurosaki, Ms. Kuchiki, glad to see you're finally here…" Kisuke remarked, tilting his casual white and green stripped hat. "…and I see you've met the young ones."

"Are these your kids, Urahara?" the raven-haired girl asked as she finally stopped laughing the same time Ichigo stopped jumping around.

"Jinta, Ururu, I'd like you to meet Ichigo and Rukia. They work around the shop." The humble shopkeeper happily introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, sir…ma'am." Ururu politely said, giving a gentle bow to show some respect to the two high school students, opposed to Jinta who simply crossed his arms and snuffed the other way.

"Listen you two, Tessai needs some help around the back, why don't you head on there and give him a hand?" Urahara remarked concerning the children before they hurried back inside. Swinging his trusty cane about, he then turned his attention back to Ichigo and Rukia. "And I believe you two have your shift to look forward to."

"Turning this place into a daycare center now?" the orange-head asked in a sarcastic tone, still a bit annoyed of Jinta's rowdiness from earlier.

"Yoruichi, a friend of mine asked me a favor to take care of the two for awhile, so they'll be staying in the shop." Mr. Hat and Clogs explained casually in his laid-back tone.  
"**Hope that isn't a problem**." he asked all of the sudden in a darkened voice, accompanied by his terrifying gaze partly hidden by the shade of his stripped hat.

"No no, not at all!" Ichigo and Rukia both replied nervously, caught off-guard over Urahara's unexpectedly darkened aura.

"Good." the humble shopkeeper remarked, oddly shifting back to his happy-go-lucky demur, before finally disappearing back in the shop.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ichigo asked Rukia uneasily, his eyes still wide open in fear.

"I…don't…know." The raven-haired girl answered, as bewildered as her 15-year old friend.

Getting a grip of themselves, the unlikely pair entered the wooden-built shop as well. The two put on their matching aprons and began their respective shifts. Time passed and business was slow as usual, the orange-haired Ichigo couldn't do much but fight himself from falling asleep as he stood behind the counter.

With an elbow under his chin, his eyes lingered about to find something that'll keep him from passing out. Rukia on the other hand, was busy running a check-up on the shop's items to take up the time. The raven-haired girl scanned around the displays in the small shop interior, clipboard and pen in hand. Peering over the various items up for sale, Rukia bit the opposing end of the pen she was holding as she brushed some of her hair off her face.

Ichigo's eyes wandered to none other than Rukia and since she was the only person in motion, the 15-year old high school student had nothing else to turn his attention to. The clamper of her brown school shoes were the only noise ringing about his ears. He couldn't help but be entranced at the whim of the raven-haired girl. Still, his mind was deeply troubled of what Chad said the day before.

"_Do you have…feelings for Rukia?"_

The single phrase from the gentle giant kept buzzing in his head over and over again. As he continued looking at her, his mind at the same time kept pushing him to answer the question. He's known her for a long time, the same enigma has bothered him time and time again, but irritatingly, he couldn't form a solid and simple answer to it.

_Do I honestly have feelings for her?_

_I just…_

_I don't know…_

_Do I?_

_Argh! What the hell? _his thoughts screaming out of control.

Ichigo was so distracted that he didn't even feel the presence of little Ururu sneak up beside him. Ururu noticed the entranced look on the young man's face, she turned to see who he was staring deeply at and it didn't take much to figure out that it was the raven-haired girl.

"Do you like her, Mr. Ichigo?" Ururu asked meekly, startling the orange-head.

"Whoah! Where'd you…?" he fumbled in words as she seemingly popped out of blink nowhere.

"You're looking at Ms. Rukia aren't you? Do you like her, Mr. Ichigo?" the black-haired little girl asked again, gesturing towards the busy teenage girl.

"Uh…uh…no, w-what'd made you say that?!" Ichigo defended as his face immediately started to heat up and pulse bright red. "Look, Rukia and I are just friends, ok?" he explained uneasily.

Upon hearing her name, Rukia stopped what she was doing and turned to the orange-haired young man. "What is it Ichigo? Did you call me?" she asked accompanied by a curious look on her face.

"No, not at all, I think you're starting to hear things, Rukia. Nope, didn't call you're name." Ichigo replied hastily with a cheesy grin, not expecting her to overhear what they were talking about. She took his words for it and simply returned her attention back to her work.

"Listen kid, we're just friends, end of story." Ichigo said in a hushed tone to Ururu as they ducked behind the counter to avoid another eavesdrop.

"Oh, ok. Sorry to have bothered you." Ururu apologized meekly; she then stood back up to her feet and dusted her plaid pink dress. "See you later, Mr. Ichigo." She said with a humble bow before running back into the back of the shop.

Ichigo let out a deep sigh as he backed himself from the bottom of the counter.

_Kids these days…_he thought.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Again sorry for my continuously delayed updates. Now concerning this chapter, not sure if I'm happy about the ending on this one, I don't know, I guess it just felt like it was missing something. But I can say that it's enough for now. Please review, you guys.

Peace out.


	20. Search for the Sister

A/N: Man, time sure moves fast. I made an update one day and next thing I know, a week already passed and I have to update again! Eh, at least you guys are happy about this.

Chapter 20  
Search for the Sister

The high-class estate of the Kuchiki residence came into view of the meek twilight. The bright moon shinning down on the wide green garden that encompasses the front entrance, wind cradling across the tall dark iron entrance gates which trails itself into a cement walkway, eventually leading into the classy mansion.

The praised mansion gleamed vividly under the moonlight while the stained windows shun bright lights illuminating from within. A couple of stories high, it housed the noble family of Kuchiki.

Byakuya Kuchiki looked sternly out from the upper balcony, his cold gaze accompanied by the shivering atmosphere passing through his dark over coat and matching pants. Hands crossed against his chest, his fierce eyes only fixed intently into the abrupt Karakura City from a distance.

"Renji…" he called, his attention not even flinching. He was soon joined by a red-haired young man bearing identical attire, taking a respectful bow before entering the balcony as well, he approached Byakuya.

"What is it, Sir Kuchiki?" Renji asked; his expression as if he wasn't intimidated by the dark-haired man's presence.

"Have you found Rukia, yet?" Byakuya asked with an antagonistic tone. Rukia has been gone for a couple of days and it certainly didn't go unnoticed. Byakuya knew why she left, ever since he forbade her to see Ichigo Kurosaki, it seems it was the rule that finally made her go over the deep end.

"No, sir." The red-head reported straight out. "…but we're trying our best." He added.

"Are you certain she isn't with that Ichigo fellow?" Byakuya questioned suspiciously, stepping back away from the outer view of the balcony and preparing to head back inside.

"Positive." Renji reassured; his voice without a hint of doubt.

Byakuya made his way back into the elegant interior, "For your sake…" he whispered darkly as he past the red-haired young man. "…I hope you're telling me the truth."

Abarai didn't reply to the implied threat, he simply stiffened the bland expression on his face. Soon, his superior was out of view, presumably left to another room. Renji sighed to himself as he marched over to the scenic view of the balcony.

Leaning forward and planting his elbows against the edge, he thought to himself if he was doing the right thing.

_I know Rukia is with that Ichigo…_

_Why can't I just bring her back home?_

_I'm not even sure how long I can cover her from Sir Kuchiki…_

_If she gets caught, I know it won't be very pleasant…_

He suddenly slammed his fist against the hard pavement, his stress and his anger creating a fair bruise on his rigid knuckles.

_What the freaking hell am I going to do?!_

---

Spark of the afternoon and the dismissal bells of Karakura High School sound off in its crowded campus. The students, happy that another school day has just passed, went their own usual ways, some headed home and others with a hang out with their friends.

Ichigo and Rukia walk side by side as always, not minding the gossiping students that buzz about at the background of the scenery. It was old news to them, ever since they started spending time together, some people wouldn't bother to shut their mouths.

"Ever wonder why people still think we're in a relationship?" Rukia asked, brushing her raven-haired locks off her young face.

"I don't really care what other people think." Ichigo replied with a scowl, an image he's carried throughout Junior High and into High School eventually.

Soon, they passed the front gates of the school, leaving the school grounds and making their way to the Urahara Shop.

It wasn't bothering them anymore like it did the first couple of times they were quietly walking along the partly populated streets, adjacent to a couple of private residence. It was their usual trip to the humble wooden-built establishment; you could say that because they spent a lot of time together, they got incredibly comfortable with each other's company.

"I heard Jinta was causing you trouble again yesterday." Rukia brought up the subject, smiling deviously at her orange-haired friend.

"Hey, it was that annoying pain in the ass's fault." Ichigo pointed out, a nerve quickly erupting on his forehead as soon as she mentioned the boy's name.

"The great Ichigo Kurosaki, bothered by a little kid," The raven-haired girl said playfully, lightly making fun of the 15-year old.

"Look, Rukia…" Ichigo started, but stopped as soon as he recognized somebody standing precariously in front of them. Rukia halted as well as she too found the mysterious figure all too familiar.

"Renji?" Rukia asked uneasily, shocked to run into her red-haired acquaintance right here.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo asked threateningly, still holding their not-so peaceful last encounter against him. He immediately stood in front of Rukia, expecting a worse-case scenario due to the fact he was presumably out looking for her.

"Relax, Kurosaki, I'm just here to talk." Renji explained, the expression on his face as calm as it could be. Dusting his dark over coat a bit, his eyes juggled between the orange-haired boy and his close childhood friend.

"I came here to warn you two…" the red-head started. "Your brother is sending more of his men out to look for you."

"And you told him where I was this whole time?" Rukia questioned accusingly. She knew that Renji was always bound to his duties. It wouldn't surprise her if he already had a group of her brother's guards right behind him.

"Actually…I didn't."

The raven-haired girl's eyes grew wide open as soon as those meek words escaped from Abarai's lips. "W-what?" she asked timidly if she heard it right.

"You're helping us?" Ichigo asked as well, a bit confused of Renji's course of action.

"It won't be long until they find out I've been covering for you two." The red-haired young man continued as he slid his hands in his pockets, not bothering to answer both their questions. He then turned around without another word. With one last sigh, he walked away from the two, content that his message has already been delivered.

"Renji…wait!" Rukia called out.

"I'll be going out of town for awhile, Rukia. It's for the best." Renji said, turning to face the raven-haired girl one last time. "And as for you, Ichigo…" he then eyed the orange-haired boy.

"…take care of Rukia, whatever you do, don't let her go. I know she can be a pain sometimes, but don't ever leave her side."

Grinning to the two as a sign of bitter farewell, Renji finally walked away, his figure slowly fading in distance under the afternoon sun.

"Renji…" Rukia murmured under her breath, sad to see one of her closest friends go just like that. She suddenly felt a warm hand hold her shoulder.

"Don't worry Rukia, I'm sure he'll be back soon." Ichigo said comfortingly.

_In the end…I guess he wasn't such a bad guy afterall…_

To Be Continued…

A/N: Adding some drama here and giving more of a protagonist view on Renji, anyways, I'll update soon. I'll see you guys on the next chapter, please review by the way.

Peace out.


	21. Curiosity Killer

A/N: Summer's over and you guys know what that means, right? Bingo. It's back to school for yours truly. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, it seems I cannot determine. Anyways, my schedule's a bit shaky since the added 7 hour school day and that's promptly the reason this update came in just now. I managed to work on it through the weekend while at the same time juggling the homework. Here's the new chap, please review, ok? Appreciate it.

Chapter 21  
Curiosity Killer

Ichigo and Rukia arrived at the Kurosaki Private Clinic, the dusk of the night sky blanketing the streets that surround them. With nothing but the glowing light posts running down hill into the city, the darkness was accompanied by the silence of the deserted neighborhood.

The two proceeded inside the humble home although it was the usual trip home from school; somehow it felt more troublesome than it normally does. Maybe it's because of Ichigo and Rukia's sudden encounter with Renji.

The red-head's words fluttered about on both their ears like a black butterfly amidst in the blink of the full moon. As they took steps inside the house, their minds only rewind the same scenery over and over again. They were grateful that meek Renji Abarai aided them in their endeavors but somehow they felt that the assist came at a large cost.

More importantly Rukia, still shaken up to finally see the young man she grew up with walk out of her life. She's come to respect him like a brother, even more of a brother than her own. They maybe not bound by blood…but by trust.

For the first time Ichigo felt like he couldn't lend a helping hand to his raven-haired friend. All this time he spent with her, he always seem to be the hero of the story, now, all he could do is sit, watch and hope for the best.

The high school students continued inside, the silence alongside with them. Rukia had her head down, her fair dark hair sliding down to cover her saddened face. Ichigo's eyes expressed nothing but concern, his scowl overshadowed by his care.

Rukia remembered that she didn't close the door when they came in. Walking back, she sluggishly pushed the door from its side with enough force to make it swing from its hinges. Ichigo suddenly stopped the moving door, his hand planting against it mid-motion.

The raven-haired girl looked up to her tall friend in question even though her eyes told differently. The orange-head remarked the thin smoke emerging from the kitchen; it meant that Yuzu was without a doubt busy in the kitchen.

The slamming noise from the door would've immediately caused a stir for attention and Ichigo couldn't let Rukia be exposed just yet…or never even. Gesturing to be quieter, the two proceeded towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

On tipped toes, they hastily ascended on the wooden steps which eventually led to the safety of the 15-year olds room. "Don't be so reckless like that. Slamming the door could've gotten us caught." Ichigo explained as he trailed behind her petite friend.

"Sorry, I was…a bit out of myself at the time." Rukia replied, taking a seat at the edge of her closet bed as soon as they were inside the room. Quietly closing the door, Ichigo rested down a seat as well, taking his usual spot by his desk.

He glanced over to Rukia, backing against the inside walls of her closet, hugging her knees close to her while her school uniform only crumpled in uneven folds. Her face seemed like it was drifting far out, daydreaming wasn't even enough to describe it.

"You miss him already?" Ichigo asked with a hint of concern hidden in his voice.

"I guess so…" Rukia replied uneasily, not even shifting her attention.

Meanwhile downstairs, Isshin along with the Kurosaki sisters are busy with their usual choirs, trying their best to keep not only the humble home but the depended clinic working. "Has Ichigo come home yet?" the goofy doctor asked, rubbing his rugged chin to think.

"I don't know. I didn't see him come in." Karin answered, sitting on the dinning table patiently with a book in hand waiting for dinner to set.

"I thought I heard the door close upstairs." Yuzu remarked, busily cooking. "You know, Ichigo's been spending quite a lot of time alone in his room."

"Yeah, and sometimes I think he's talking to himself up there." Karin added. The twin sisters gave each other a confused expression, trying to put together the pieces that'd explain their dear old brother's rather strange behavior.

"ALONE IN HIS ROOM?! TALKING TO HIMSELF?!" Isshin suddenly babbled with his eyes wide open in panic.

"What are you saying?" Karin asked their estranged father, setting down the book she was reading earlier.

"Yeah dad, do you know what's wrong with Ichigo?" Yuzu asked the same question, concerning like she normally does.

"It can only mean one…thing…" the father started, his expression suddenly darkening into a more serious outlook. Yuzu and Karin's faces only peered closer in eagerness of what their doctor of a dad has to say.

"ICHIGO CAN SEE GHOSTS!!!" Isshin exclaimed.

"Huh?!"

"What?!" the sisters both responded in unison.

"CAN'T YOU TWO SEE?! HE CAN SENSE THE SPIRITS THAT ALLUDE TO OUR VISION!" Isshin continued as if he was crazily preaching about the apocalypse on public streets.

Yuzu and Karin simply sighed to disappointment of how another irrational theory escaped their father's lips. They couldn't blame him let alone blaming themselves for setting high expectations.

Back upstairs, Ichigo was still felt useless as he could be. He can't help seeing Rukia down like a wet blanket in her closet. Rukia let out another depressing breath, her legs still curled up. The emotions on her eyes were still the same as the time they got back home.

Ichigo tried to switch his attention to something else but his focus kept returning back to the raven-haired girl's silent motif. He couldn't think of anything to help out for once in his life.

Once again he tried to redirect his attention to something else. He turned the opposite way, facing his bed and the wide open window. Looking down on his bed, he caught a glimpse of his clear white pillow, a bit dimpled from use the previous night. An idea suddenly crossed the orange-head's mind, and a devious smile formed on his lips.

Rukia was still dead quiet. She released her binding hold on her knees and stretched her legs forward, still in her school uniform; her movements unfolded the crumples from her earlier pose while leaving a series of creases.

She let out another sigh, her feeling not doing any better, when…

**POW!!!**

All of the sudden a pillow was flung across the room and hit Rukia straight at the side of her head. The feathers fluttered about while the impact caused the petite girl to literally rattle insider her small closet.

Shaking her head to recover from the unforeseen attack, the raven-haired girl immediately marched over to her orange-haired friend. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she protested with a large nerve pulsing.

"What are you talking about, Rukia?" Ichigo asked casually while humming a tone to himself, making it sound like he didn't have a clue of what she meant.

"Stop playing Ichigo, I know it was you who threw that pillow!" Rukia said with an annoyed tone as if she was about to kill the next guy she sees.

"What pillow?" Ichigo continued to act dumb to all her questions.

"THIS PILLOW!" Rukia exclaimed before picking up the pillow from the floor and flailing it around the orange-head. The white fabric bounced about as she repeatedly swinging it against his bleached hair.

Ichigo let out a playful grin as he back away from his friend. "Oh no you don't, get back here!" The raven-haired girl declared, starting to get a bit entertained of their little cat and mouse. She then gave chase to the 15 year old as she followed him around the room while hitting him playfully on the head with the pillow.

"Ok, no more Mr. Nice Guy!" Ichigo remarked with a smile after earning a couple of hits from Rukia. He then wrapped his fingers around Rukia's wrists, trying to wrestling her out of her weapon.

She tried to struggle while at the same time trying to hold her laughter from escaping. Soon, Ichigo was able to disarm his friendly adversary. Rukia was so caught up in all the excitement that she lost her balance, making her fall forward.

(Oh God! Not another crash from the clumsy Rukia! Can't Drew think of better fluff ideas?!)

Luckily Ichigo was able to catch the petite raven-haired girl, falling forward into his arms comfortably. The two were broken down and laughing as their eyes met each other's glances, not even bothered by the fact that they were incredibly close.

(Nah, I was just messing with you guys!)

Ichigo's strong hands were wrapped around her waist and were lifting her off her feet while Rukia's arms dangled around his neck as they just shared each other simple smiles.

"Not trying to kill me anymore?" Ichigo joked, a rarely seen grin on his face.

"Don't think this is over." Rukia replied happily. She couldn't even remember all her weighed down grief from earlier, like it just melted away in Ichigo's arms.

The orange-haired high school student put his petite friend down, letting her stand on her own two feet. A bit proud of himself of a job well done, he checked to see that his room is a bit in shambles after their little game.

"I think we made quite a mess…" Rukia pointed out.

"Don't worry about it, nothing I can't fix." Ichigo replied. "Anyways, don't be so depressed all the time, Rukia."

The raven-haired girl simply smiled in return, now realizing what her dear friend has done for her yet again. "Thanks…" she said humbly.

"The depressing look is my thing. Don't go stealing it without permission." Ichigo said sarcastically, earning another giggle from Rukia. Afterwards, the two turned both their attention to the stormed room and started cleaning up all the mess they made.

Picking up the pillow they battered around with and organizing all the furniture they bumped in and/or ran right through awhile ago. It wasn't long until the room was eventually spick, span and brand new like before they caused all that chaos.

Ichigo and Rukia both sat peacefully by the wall of the window after all the hard work, both their backs against the wall apart from the wind gustling window over their heads. "Well, I guess that'll do." Ichigo remarked as he wiped some sweat of his forehead. Meanwhile, Rukia was being all quiet again right next to him. It didn't take much for Ichigo to notice.

"Don't tell me after all my work from earlier, you're sad again." The orange-head said, glancing over at her.

"No, it's just..." The petite raven-haired girl replied uneasily.

"Well, what's the problem then?"

"Ichigo, I don't know where to start. It's just that, you've done so much for me…" Rukia started. "...and all I'm doing is causing you more trouble." She explained with a bit of a guilty tone, as her eyes erupted with nothing but concern.

"If you're talking about the room..." Ichigo said with a sigh.

"Look, it's not that!" Rukia interrupted him. "We can't hide from my brother forever, he's going to find me, and when he does…I just…I JUST DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU GET HURT!" her voice suddenly raised, the look on her face seem like she was fighting herself from shedding a tear right there next to him.

The fight didn't last very long and her eyes watered with sadness. It was the first time he ever saw her cry, she always made herself look like the type of girl that can handle everything and anything that comes her way, but now in her moment of weakness, Ichigo knew that he was the only person there for her to turn to.

_As long as I'm here...I won't allow a single tear to drop from your eyes..._

Rukia felt her head against something soft. She looked up to see non other than Ichigo, slowly tilting her face to his shoulder. She felt the warmth of his body's heat comfort her tearing eyes. Her droplets soaking up against the sleeve of his shirt. "I don't care what happens to me, I'll protect you no matter what the cost." She heard him whisper to her.

_No matter what the cost…_

His words made Rukia's heart skip a beat more and more. As she sat there with him, her head rested on his broad shoulders. Her skin tingled once again, the feeling that kept brightening her senses every single time she spent an unforgettable moment like this with the man she's come to know as Ichigo Kurosaki.

The door suddenly swung wide open…

"ICHIGO I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU!" Isshin cried out as he scrambled into the high school student's room.

"Dad, wait!" Ichigo and Rukia were both caught off-guard. With all the commotion from earlier, an intrusion was all but unexpected.

"No time, Ichigo and…wait…Rukia, what are you doing here?!" Isshin questioned after finally spotting a certain raven-haired girl in the room.

"Well, dad…uh…you see…" Ichigo tried to make up an excuse on the spot but the words seem to not come out of his mouth while Rukia was speechless as well. Isshin's goofy expression from earlier shifted into a more serious one as he benignly awaited a reply from his 15 year old son.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Long chapter, eh? I hope you guys like this because I really took my time on this one. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to do my homework now because it's due the next day. Before I forget, please leave a review, ok? Please.


	22. Part of the Family

A/N: Oh my God! The homework is literally pilling up on me like the plague. I think I have to swindle through an intimidating stack of paperwork every single time I approach my desk. Anyhow, I guess it's sad to say that my frequency to update is going to drop dramatically over the course of the following weeks.

But cheer up you guys, I'll try my best to get my fingers zooming across the keyboard even if it takes purposely handcuffing myself to the computer table. Nonetheless, here's the update, I'm sure you guys were dying to find out what Ichigo thought up for his dear old dad.

Chapter 22  
Part of the Family

Rukia's head rested on Ichigo's broad shoulders as the two peacefully sat next to each other on the bedroom floor. Their backs against the wall near the window sill, the two wished that they could just stay in this position forever.

But all good things must eventually come an end…

"ICHIGO, I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU!" Isshin all of the sudden barged in on the 15-year old's room, his foot connecting to the door and sending it swinging wide open.

Ichigo and Rukia woke from their intuitive trances the moment they heard the good doctor yell out. With all the commotion from earlier, they didn't expect someone to walk in now of all times.

The orange head's eyes shot wide open. There wasn't enough time to hide Rukia, the closet was across the room and they were sitting down at the opposite end. "Dad…wait!" he said in a desperate effort to thwart his father but it was already too late.

"No time, Ichigo and…wait…Rukia, what are you doing here?!" Isshin questioned, seeing the raven-haired girl first hand in the same room as his son.

"Well, dad…uh…you see…" Ichigo tried to make up an excuse on the spot but the words seem to not come out of his mouth while Rukia was speechless as well. Isshin's goofy expression from earlier shifted into a more serious one as he benignly awaited a reply from his 15 year old son. "Look dad, I can explain!"

The serious look on Ichigo's father didn't break, crossing his arms and tapping his foot against the hard wood floor, he continued to wait for a rational explanation as to why Rukia was here uninvited.

"Dad…" Ichigo said once more, biding time for himself as he kept thinking of a good reason, yet the rarely seen serious expression on his father's face only pressured him far from thinking.

"Son, I'm sorry that I disturbed you two." Isshin suddenly interrupted in on Ichigo.

"What?" the orange-head remarked.  
"Huh?" Rukia exclaimed similarly

"What kind of father am I to just barge in on one of my son's most precious moments?!" He said with his serious look from earlier immediately dispersing. Ichigo and Rukia simply stood in the same room dumbfounded, they both got the idea that Ichigo's dad was a bit mad about something when he barged in but they didn't figure until now that it was of himself all along.

"I'll leave you two back to your privacy now." Isshin remarked, reacting as if he was disgraced of himself before walking back outside the room and closing the door behind him.

"What…the…" Rukia murmured, a bit confused of what just happened.

"Oh and by the way!" Ichigo's dad all of the sudden snuck his head out through the ajar door, surprising both the two high school students. "I'd just like to remind you two to use protection! I'm still a bit too young to be having grandkids!"

The odd fatherly doctor then closed the door shut. The look on both Ichigo and Rukia's faces were about as wide-eyed as it could've been after hearing that last comment from the Kurosaki father. Both their faces heated hastily, pulsing red in embarrassment.

_Oh my God, did he just say that?! _Both Ichigo and Rukia thought in unison.

The two slowly tried to glance at each other, their cheeks blushing tremendously. The moment their eyes met they immediately looked the opposite way, still too disturbed of Isshin's haunting words and what he was trying to imply.

Regaining his composure, Ichigo shook his head about and hastily marched up to his door. "I'll go straighten this out right now!" he remarked, determined to stop anymore misunderstandings between him, her, and his family.

"Wait, I'll come with you." Rukia added, pushing her previous discomfort away and trailing behind her orange-haired schoolmate.

"No, you stay here." Ichigo protested as he blocked the door for his own.

"Ichigo, I think we've gone far enough. It's only right that your family finally knows." The petite raven-haired girl pointed out.

Taking a deep sigh of how right she was Ichigo had no other choice but to move out of the way and let Rukia go downstairs with him.

Later…

"So Rukia needs to stay here for awhile?" Karin restated to make sure she heard it right the first time. The remaining members of the Kurosaki residence surrounded the familiar dinning room table, the two sisters and their still somewhat reluctant father.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" Yuzu asked concerning like she always does. Ichigo scratched the back of his head, not knowing where to begin with his complicated explanation.

"You see, Rukia has sort of…well…problems back…" he started.

"What Ichigo is trying to say is that I ran away from home." Rukia interrupted, answering the question so that her tall scowling friend won't go through the trouble any further. "…and I've sort of been hiding in his room this whole time."

The silence soon encompassed the entire household. The raven-haired girl felt a bit guilty of herself, having fooled Ichigo's family for quite some time. "I'm really sorry, if you want, I'll move out as soon as possible." She then offered as an act of apology. Ichigo was in a bit of a surprise of to what she just said, not expecting her to make such a sacrifice.

_Rukia…no…._he shouted deep in his mind.

"Now what kind of people would we be if we just let you stray on the streets?" Isshin suddenly exclaimed whole-heartedly with a goofy grin on his face. "Of course you can stay!" he permitted without a hint of doubt in his voice. A warm smile formed on Rukia's lips as life's good fortune looked unto her yet again. She returned the smile to Ichigo, who himself was happy of his father's decision.

"This can be great! You could stay in our room where it's much roomier!" Yuzu said.

"Ohh…uh…thank you but I'm fine staying in Ichigo's room." Rukia shyly declined, her face immediately bursting red in slight embarrassment of the discussion.

"Fine then…" Isshin remarked with a raised brow. "…but you we need to set some ground rules, ok?" he then explained, making Ichigo and Rukia's eyes grow as to what he was trying to imply yet again.

"STOP BEING SO PERVERTED!" Karin shouted before picking up an apple lying precariously on the table then throwing it straight at Isshin's face. The semi-dangerous fruit planted hard on the man's face and made him stumble backwards across the floor.

"Ok…ok…fine." Isshin replied in between his winces of pain. Scrambling back to his feet, he disregarded his previous statement from earlier, rubing the sore on his forehead.

"Look, it's getting late. I think we should call it a day." Yuzu pointed out as she innocently glanced at the clock. Cleaning up the mess Karin and her dad made, she and her sister soon ascended upstairs to their room.

Isshin simply strolled back into his office, seemingly to finish some late paperwork. Rukia and Ichigo were just about to head upstairs as well, "Again, thank you Mr. Kurosaki for letting me stay." Rukia said once more before she started her way up the wooden steps.

"Don't mention it, you're like a part of this family and as a family, we aren't going to let you go through your problems alone." Isshin happily replied before finally disappearing into another room.

"Come on, let's get some rest." Ichigo reminded the petite raven-haired girl, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Nodding in agreement, she then joined him as they both made their way to the 15 year-old's room.

The passing night entered and it wasn't long until everybody in the Kurosaki residence was sound asleep. Ichigo lay motionless in his bed as he did his usual stare at the blank ceiling. Rukia was still awake as well, sharing one last conversation with the orange head as her closet door was wide open.

"Ichigo…"

"Yeah?"

"I wish I have a family like yours."

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh?" Rukia asked confusingly.

"Why would you still want a family like mine when you're already part of it?" Ichigo replied with a humble smile to the raven-haired girl lying in his closet.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Whoah, I'm seriously dead late on the update. Really sorry you guys, I hope this chapter was worth that long wait. Anyways, review it ok? So I'll still know if you guys are still reading my fic. Its kind of hard to tell sometimes, plus I love reviews! With that said and done, I'll see you again at my next chapter.

Peace out.


	23. Drawing Every Step Closer

A/N: Oh man, talk about double jeopardy. Not only do I have very little time to work on this fic but the dreaded writer's block kept rearing its gruesome head up my face as well. This could not get any worse -.-

Looks like I spoke too soon, now I'm sick! Coming down hard with the flu and fever?! C'mon, this is just ridiculous!

Anyways, I'm trying my best to remember what I had planned on this chapter. (I ask myself "why on Earth don't I write it down?") And it's quite promptly the reason for its ridiculous tardiness. I am so pathetic. And lazy, don't forget that by the way.

Chapter 23  
Drawing Every Step Closer

"Renji's gone?" Byakuya asked as he stood darkly in his usual spot aloft the balcony of the Kuchiki estate. A bodyguard clad in a usual black formality presented himself right behind him, giving the news of a red-haired assailant's disappearance.

"Yes sir, his room has been cleared out." The bodyguard reported with his head down in respect. Byakuya backed away from the night sky and returned inside, his face emotionless like it always is. Although it was no surprise that he had something in mind already. Somehow, it didn't bother him that much of Renji's unexpected leave, perhaps it wasn't as unexpected as the other guards thought.

"I want you and your men to check one last place for me." He said coldly, his back turned to his single audience as he simply continued walking.  
"What is it, sir?" the guard asked, following Byakuya inside.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Late in the afternoon, the next day...

"We're going now Mr. Hat and Clogs, shift's done." Ichigo announced as he was about to untie his apron, reaching backwards to the knot behind his shirt. The day wasn't a bit too shabby. Things are as calm as they could be. More importantly, Rukia's been more joyful ever since their compromise with Ichigo's family.

_I guess she's just relieved that dad, Yuzu, and Karin accepted her whole-heartedly._

_She deserves it anyways…_

The aforementioned raven-haired girl then walked into the shop, carrying a cardboard box in her arms, presumably a task Urahara wanted her to finish up. She gave her usual caring smile to Ichigo as she passed him on her way in.

_Rukia deserves to be happy for once, especially after all she's been through._

Rukia set the box she carried in on one of the clear counters. "The package you wanted is by the counter, Mr. Urahara." She then announced before taking off her apron. The shopkeeper entered from the back room to address the two before their leave.

"Alright then, you two take care of yourselves. You never know when something would just step on your door." Urahara said, readjusting his familiar green and white stripped hat.

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked curiously as he and Rukia suddenly stopped on their way out the door. A confused expression formed on their faces as to the somewhat cryptic comment.

"Ohh, nothing really," Mr. Hat and Clogs replied with a sly grin, his eyes covered under the shadow of the brim of his hat. "You know, hate to have to use the Help Wanted sign again." He then joked. Ichigo and Rukia simply let out a sigh of relief, thinking for a sec that there was something about to go wrong above the horizon.

"Anyways, see you tomorrow." Ichigo repeated his statement from earlier before finally leaving the premises of the humble Urahara shop with Rukia.

Kisuke watched intently as the two walked away into the late afternoon scenery. His hearty grin from earlier slowly dispersing as the sunset commenced. He exhaled deeply, acknowledging the bit of truth to what he said earlier.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo and Rukia walked down the partly crowded streets of Karakura as they made their trip back home. The sun setting and the sky being cloaked by the calmness of the night sky, the two made a turn at their cross street.

"Do you ever wonder if Urahara knows more than he's telling us?" Rukia brought up the subject. She was still a bit concerned of the shopkeeper's suspicious farewell from earlier. It wasn't the first time he was like that either.

"You got that feeling too, huh?" Ichigo replied, having working on that wooden-built establishment for quite some time made him somewhat accustomed to the blonde man's enigma. "Don't let it get to you." He added. "Mr. Hat and Clogs has always been like that for as long as I could remember him."

The raven-haired girl simply sighed to agreement, ending the topic at hand and pushing the fact to the back of her mind.

The two continued their walk, the street lights finally turned on above their heads which the lithe the path before them. The Kurosaki clinic was in view.

"Almost there." Rukia remarked, speeding up a bit to their destination. She suddenly felt someone's strong firm hand grab her arm, stopping her immediately. She looked back to see it was Ichigo, a serious expression on his face which was absent earlier.

"Wait…something's wrong." He said.

He grabbed her hand and took her stealthily into a nearby lamp post. "What is it?" Rukia asked, next to Ichigo as they were both backed against the street wall. The orange-haired boy looked onward to his house.

There was a rather suspicious black limousine parked up right at the front.

_That can't be Don Kanonji's. Black isn't really his thing, what the hell is going on?_

A couple of men in formal wear and sunglasses then stepped out, three of them at count. The ominous trio took steps towards the door to the Kurosaki Clinic, the indistinctive sense in Ichigo's chest kept growing as there was without a doubt trouble afoot in their doorstep.

Rukia joined his glance as she too stared at the strange visitors from afar. Her eyes grew in surprise as she recognized those characters all too well. "I-Ichigo…" she tugged on the orange-head's sleeve to get his attention, fear running down mercilessly down her spine.

"What is it? Do you know those guys? Ichigo asked as he turned to the petite-raven haired girl next to him. She nodded with the still wide-eyed look on her face.

"They're my brother's men." Rukia revealed, making Ichigo curse under his breath. He knew that his father and his sisters were still home. But he couldn't go, not now, he couldn't leave Rukia here. The orange-haired high school student had no other choice but to stay hidden and pray for the best.

The three people donned in black formal attire rang the doorbell. Their eyes covered over by their sunglasses as to seem like they were from a spy movie. Somebody answered the door.

"Ichigo is that you? I told you to…oh, can I help you?" Isshin exclaimed, having thought it was his 15-year old son. But sadly, he was mistaken.

"Sir, have you seen this girl?" the intimidating guy up front asked, taking out a picture from his coat pocket. The picture was no mystery. It was an I.D. picture of Rukia. Isshin took the picture in his hand and examined it. His eyes straitened about along with a hand under his chin.

"Nope, haven't seen her around this neighborhood, try somewhere else." The good doctor then replied, handing the picture back to the three. He swung close the door, having no more to say to the guards.

"Wait, sir." One of the guards interrupted, putting his foot up to block the door from closing fully. "We've received direct orders that she is here, do you mind we search the house?" they then asked.

"Look, I told you, I haven't seen her before! Now get out of my clinic!" Isshin raised his voice. The visitors starting to somewhat get on his nerves. He opened the door again, seeing they refuse to let it close. He confronted the three brutes.

"Sir, if you would just step back." The three men said, they were starting to get suspicious. Having directly told by their superior to find the girl here, it'd be dreadful to come back empty handed.

"I said get out!" Isshin continued. The black-clad men were starting to loose their patience, the one in front and facing the doctor more importantly.

He almost had it. He raised his fist as if about to strike Isshin.

Ichigo's eyes blew open as he glimpsed the sight from afar. His body screamed at him to move out of this spot and go help his father.

_DAD!_

But his mind flashed abrupt images of Rukia. He remembered what they were fighting for here. Taking a step and being the hero would mean loosing Rukia. Ichigo crunched his fists as he held back himself, his anger nearly building to extremes.

Isshin didn't flinch to the man's threat. "Go ahead, take your shot." He taunted with a fierce glare. The man then retreat his arm, not wanting anymore to drag the confrontation any further.

He signaled his accomplices, and the three walked back to their limousine before finally driving out of the neighborhood.

Ichigo and Rukia were relieved as they could be seeing the threat disperse into the calmness of the twilight. "C'mon." Ichigo gestured near his petite raven-haired friend, both of them wanting to know if everybody was alright and nobody got hurt.

They hastily ran to the Kurosaki Clinic. Reaching up to the front door with barely little time wasted, Isshin hospitably opened it for them before the orange-head had a chance to make a reach for his keys.

"Well, about time you two got here." He greeted.

"Dad, are you alright?" Ichigo asked in concern and worry.

"Relax, nothing I could handle. You two freshen up now, dinner's almost ready." He replied, letting the two in.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mr. Kurosaki?" Rukia gently asked once more.

"I told you I'm fine, you two. There's no need to worry." Isshin said before going back to his office while Ichigo and Rukia simply continued their way upstairs.

"Damn, they're getting closer." Ichigo cursed as he closed the door behind them as soon as they entered their room. He then noticed Rukia was being rather quiet again as she stood gloomily.

"They're going to come back, you know." She said.

"Good, cause next time, we'll be ready." Ichigo replied with a determined tone in his voice.

"It's not safe for me here anymore, Ichigo." Rukia then protested, her emotions running rampant at him. "And you and your family aren't safe either. Maybe I need to leave. I just don't know what I'll do with myself if you get hurt."

"NO!" the orange-haired boy said out loud, causing her to pause. "I won't let you do that."

_I'll stand by your side no matter what…_

"I'm not letting you go through this alone." He explained with a scowl, although his caring voice hindered itself. "Now go dress out of your uniform, dinner's coming up." He added.

_Ichigo... _Rukia cried in her thoughts. She was grateful that such a friend would brave through this with her.

_He's always like that…every determined, persistant... _She thought as she took her clothes and hoped into her closet space while Ichigo dressed outside.

She sat down with her back against the wall like she always does, cradling her legs in her arms. Being troubled by the indecisiveness of her mind, and the roaring emotions in her heart…

_But deep down, I know what had to be done._

To Be Continued…

A/N: Not much to say here now but give my usual statement. Please review you guys, ok? I really appreciate it if you do. Again, sorry for the long gaps in between my updates, I guess it can't be helped at the time being. Anyways, please review.

Peace out.


	24. Moonlight Goodbyes

A/N: It's kind of sad that every time I have an Author's note for the chapter, it always starts with me apologizing to you guys of how long it took me to make another gosh-darn update. School has literally pile-driven me into the floor and things are just starting. I'm finding it only harder and harder to get some decent time to be actually in front of the computer with my fingers on the keyboard.

Well, enough of my ranting. Some of you might have already seen what's coming and what Rukia is planning to do, but to add at least some drama to this, I'm not going to spoil anything for now. You're just going to have read through this before you can say "I told you so, Drew!"

Chapter 24  
Moonlight Goodbyes

Middle of the night, Rukia sat depressingly in her closet bed with her head down on her knees, wrinkling the yellow checkerboard pattern on her pajamas. The rest of the house was as quiet as a feather without a drab of noise to break the bitter silence. Brushing some of her hair off her face as she lifted herself back up, she gently slid open the door, letting the moonlight pass through.

Rukia moved near the edge of her bed, her legs swinging freely as she sat peacefully, admiring the view. She noticed Ichigo was already asleep. Facing up and eyes closed shut, his chest moved rhythmically in between his breaths. It reminded her of the first time they met, him, lying on the clinic bed with his head bandaged and bleeding while she stood alongside worrying nervously and feeling guilty.

She smiled to herself of how crazy that they ended, both of them nearly shouting their heads off in their constant rambling.

…_If only things weren't this complicated. _She thought to herself.

The raven-haired girl stepped down from her bed. She felt the cold breeze of the floor beneath her toes as she stealthily walked over to the dresser across the room. She made a reach for her bag, lying precariously along the wall and took it with her back to the closet.

Rukia dressed out her fitting pajamas and into a simple blue dress she always liked. Straightening her bed and neatly folding her sleeping wear, she breathed heavily of how much her mind was screaming the opposite way.

…_I've got no other choice. _She told herself otherwise.

Flashes of the near encounter with her brother's men and Ichigo's father still bothered her a great deal. Isshin almost got hurt, fortunate he didn't, but she couldn't take that risk anymore. They've done a lot for her and perhaps they've done enough.

The raven-haired girl backed herself against the wall adjacent to the closet, her mind still troubled. Above all things, she didn't want to leave. Rukia has grown accustomed to the Kurosaki's more than anything or anyplace she's ever been.

…_but I know I have to._

Her saddened eyes trailed to the orange-haired young man sleeping in the middle of the room. Doubts and hesitation only grew.

_If there was a reason for me not to leave this place, one of them would be you. _She whispered in the brink darkness.

She walked over to his bed, still as careful as before. Looking over him like an angel, she admired the peaceful expression on his face. She took a seat near the edge of his bed, careful not to shake it too much to wake him.

_Ichigo…  
I don't know if you can hear me right now but…  
Thanks,  
For everything,  
You've shown me that there really is more beyond the walls of my brother's estate._

Her hands wandered to his bright orange hair, disguised by the shadowed room. Her smooth fingers ran through his ruffled hair caringly.

_You were always there for me, Ichigo.  
Always there to lend me a helping hand when things got rough,  
And catching me every time I fall…literally,  
Somehow I feel a simple thank you won't be enough to make up for all that._

Tears were starting to form in Rukia's eyes. It was painful, this feeling. Letting go, leaving something behind, she wiped her eyes before they dropped unto Ichigo's face.

_Now it's my turn to save you…  
My brother already knows I'm here.  
You and your family aren't safe anymore.  
And that's why I have to leave.  
Runaway again,  
Get as far away from this place as possible.  
So you could be safe._

Rukia then leaned her head down close to his quiet demur. She felt the warm breaths escaping his lips unto hers. She remembered all those times when it felt like this, their lips only inches apart, feeling her cheeks burn in bleak red. All those times she backed away. But this time it was different.

_For all I know, this could be the last time I'll ever see you again._

She gently closed the gap between them, and kissed him.

It was simple at first, her lips over his, feeling his features brush against her. She partly opened her eyes in then surprise. Somehow, she felt him move. She looked to see that he was still asleep without breaking apart. He still was but it was no mistake, she was feeling his soft lips gently caressing hers. As if he knows. As if he's kissing her back.

She closed her eyes as she embrassed the moment. It was ever so real as it could be, like those dramatic romance novels you'd read to pass the idle time. Only this time it was every bit as real. She could feel herself loose the passage of time and all sense was dulled out except for this one moment. Something breath taking, something everlasting.

_I love you. _Her mind raced a thousand thoughts per second.

Rukia finally ended the kiss and broke away. His eyes were still closed shut, she couldn't explain it. Was it his instincts? Was he dreaming? Does he have some sort of impulse to move his lips?

She touched her lips with her fingertips, the warmth was still there. And at the back of her mind, she was wishing that it could be there forever.

_I guess it doesn't really matter now. _She thought, reclaiming the sadness that has ecompassed earlier.

The petite raven-haired girl got up from the seat near his bed. She placed Yuzu's pajamas back in the empty closet and shouldered her backpack with all her things in it.

Middle of the night, Rukia fully opened the bedroom window. The cold breeze blowing freely against her young face, she looked back one last time. This was it. She knew it would come to this someday. She knew it had to be done.

"Goodbye... Ichigo." She said, unable to fight as a single tear dropped from her eyes.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Oh My God! I bet you didn't see that one coming, huh? A bit of a mood killer and if you almost cried when you were reading this, can you let me know in your reviews? I'll try my best to speed up the next chapter so I can get it up right away. Please review for now.

And if you'll excuse, I'm off to the comic book shop to get myself some new issues of Ultimate Spider-man.

Peace out.


	25. Memories in the Rain

A/N: I seriously got to stop procrastinating and keep better track of my time. In all honestly, when I looked at the calendar this morning I was like "What the f---?! Two weeks past already since my fic update?!" and then I madly dashed to the computer much like how Ichigo does when he's been sent flying by a Hollow. I think that was on the second episode of the anime…or was it the third?

Anyhow, I'd rather end my pointless rambling here and skip right to the part where you guys get to see what happens next in my fic. That is, if you guys are still keeping track this whole time.

See you at the bottom of the page me amigos…

Chapter 25  
Memories in the Rain

"Dad, have you seen Rukia?!" Ichigo shouted with tremendous volume, a panic and worry hidden somewhere between his lines. He was hastily running down the stairs, the wood thudding on each and every pace of his feet.

His intrusion caused a sudden interruption in the household of three. Yuzu, by the kitchen, while both Isshin and Karin sitting down nicely on the dinning room table about to enjoy a typical rainy day morning breakfast. They all stopped what they were doing and turned to face the eldest brother, a confused look on their faces.

"I haven't seen her all morning, something wrong there, son?" Isshin asked, wrapping his hands around the mug of coffee and taking a fatherly sip.

"SHE'S GONE!" Ichigo then blurted out all of the sudden.

**FWOOOOSH! **Isshin spat out the coffee he just drank. Upon hearing the unexpected news, all three of them seemingly stopped in their own place.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Yuzu asked worrying, stepping down from the stool she always uses whenever cooking dinner, her eyes widening in concern.

Isshin suddenly slammed his fist on the dinning table, capturing everybody's attention to his now. "Everybody, wrap up a search party!" he then ordered in a military-like fashion, while the two Kurosaki sisters simply nodded in reply. Yuzu and Karin immediately headed upstairs, presumably to dress to go outside.

The commandeer father then turned to his eldest 15-year old son. But when he did so, Ichigo was already on his way out the door, his back to his old man and already snatching his jacket straight off the rack.

"Ichigo, where are you going?" Isshin asked, although he already knew the undisputed answer.

"What else? To find Rukia…" Ichigo replied sharply, his hand already reaching for the knob. He swung the door open with very little care, the loud clattering of the rain shower entering the doorway step.

"It's pouring out there, at least take an umbrella with you—"

"I DON'T CARE!"

The orange-haired boy slammed the door shut without another word, leaving his estranged father hanging in the middle of his sentence. The heavy silence encompassed the household, the rattling of the rain on the harbored roof the only thing keeping it from a deathly feel.

Isshin then smiled to himself, "I haven't seen Ichigo this determined…in a long time."

* * *

Ichigo ran across the raining streets, the sole of his shoes splashing along the puddles amassing on the asphalt. He felt the falling water sprinkle his face as he pushed on forward, without a single sign of stopping.

His plaid green jacket was starting to feel heavy, drenched under the unceasing rain; his orange hair soaked and clumping down his struggling face, barely flinching. But he still kept running.

_Damn it Rukia why'd you run away?! _His mind shouted the question as he proceeded, with only the flashing images of the raven-haired girl accompanying it.

Ichigo's thoughts raced as fast as he was running. He then remembered his dream last night, he couldn't shake his mind off of it, couldn't wake the feeling that was still there, couldn't answer the question that it raised.

He was all alone, trailing aloft under the heavy rain, somehow answering his own questions that sought no one would.

_My dream last night… The night she left…_

_What about it?_

_It was…a strange one…_

_Why's that? It was about her wasn't it?_

_Yeah…although, it felt every bit as real…as if she was really there…_

_I see._

_I'm not going to give up. I'm going to find her._

_No matter what it takes?_

_No matter what it takes._

_Good._

Ichigo finally reached the first cross street from his house. Panting heavily, he could literally feel his heart pounding through his chest and his lungs breathing through his ribs. He stopped to think.

He remembered that this is where they use to say all their hellos and goodbyes. Her house going one way, his going the other, from the first greeting at the early school day to the last closing of a hard day of work, it was all here.

_Rukia…Where are you?_

He couldn't think of anything, the inner voice from earlier refuse to answer the last question he had. Ironically, it was the one that really mattered. Ichigo started pacing himself in one direction, with the rain still showering down on him.

The orange-haired young man turned a corner apart from the street he was in.

He remembered once more, this is where they first met. That blind turn that very day, the accident that started this whole thing, without which, their paths wouldn't have crossed. He never really found out what she did with that bike of hers. Call it fate, or destiny, or even karma, it didn't matter, it happened so it happened, and he was somehow grateful for it.

Soon, more flashbacks kept coming, each with their own special place in his mind, like a key suddenly triggered individual boxes to open deep in his subconscious. It was all about her, every last one of them, and right now, it's was still about her.

Ichigo then stopped all of the sudden…as one caught his attention. The one place that she'd go to just to clear her troubles…

_The park! _Ichigo's head literally screamed at him. He suddenly turned the opposite direction, the rain partly obscuring his vision, but now certain of his destination.

He started running again.

* * *

The rain showed no signs of stopping and neither did Ichigo. Now knowing where he was going, the simple thought only pushed him to go faster and faster. His only plea that his assumption to be correct.

_Rukia, please be there._

The park entrance was within view. With each drawing step, he kept wishing to finally find her there. His shoes continued to splash on the water covered streets. The weight of his soaked jacket dripped along with his wet hair. Again, he simply kept running.

The venue was empty and deserted, unlike the last time they were there. Ichigo eyed the nearby park benches surrounding the entrance archway, still holding on to his hunch, hoping that his search would be over here and now.

He then saw a silhouette sitting on one of the park benches.

Without a second doubt, he rushed towards it. All sense were dulling out, the cold shiver was starting to creep up his spine. He just wanted to see her caring face, a look he's come accustomed to.

She was there. Sitting patiently with no where to go, a coat over her head to shield herself from the rain, her clothes as drenched as his. The raven-haired girl heard a voice call out to her. She looked around, and soon, somebody familiar came into view.

"Rukia!" again the voice called out. She recognized it all too well. A voice she never thought she'd hear again after today.

"I-Ichigo…"

To Be Continued…

A/N: Glad to see you made it this far. Wait wait, if you're going to kill me right now for ending the chapter right here, just let me at least finish my Author's Note.

Now, while I was typing this I never really got down where to exactly I'm suppose to cut off the cliffhanger. As some of you may have noticed I could've done it in literally A LOT of places. But I guess I'm content at the one at hand. It's quick, simple and hopefully not giving any wrong ideas or implying any for that matter.

Kind'a funny that every time I finish a chapter and then post it up, I always have my fingers crossed to "Oh I pray to God that there are still people reading the nonsense I type on this site." Thankfully that was reviews are for, so…please review, ok?

Till, next time. Peace out.


	26. Never Letting Go

A/N: I'm starting to neglect my Comedy factor in this fic, aren't I? Happens every time, I don't know why but in nearly every fic I start, it starts out with a combination of two genres and then inexplicably converts to a one single genre in the near future. It's like a freakish curse or something!

Pushing that unexplained phenomenon behind me, I'm purposely using a lot of references from _Bleach _on the next few chapters of my fic, contraire because it is in fact_ Bleach_. So yeah, you'll be seeing some awfully familiar scenes and I think it's just worth giving the heads up.

Chapter 26  
Never Letting Go

Rukia sat under the depressing autumn rain. With no where else to go, nothing but her personal belongings, and a coat over her head to catch the falling raindrops, she sat patiently by the park entrance. She shivered at the brink of the parting cold. Breathing out, she saw the drape mist that escaped her lips. The rain showed no signs of stopping, but there was nothing she could really do about it.

_I guess…I deserve this. _She thought, accompanied by her saddened eyes.

The raven-haired girl recalled back what transpired these past couple of days. To her, it was one of the best times of her life. Ever wishing that those memories won't end, they'd always hold a special place in her heart. Rukia looked down on her feet planted timidly on the floor. The raindrop splashes addressing her brown school shoes.

It's come to this. Her all alone and sought to survive the rest of the days that way. She couldn't keep staying with the Kurosaki's, now that her brother knew where she was, she reckons that Byakuya would do anything just to get her back. The petite girl couldn't even imagine what would her darkly brother would do to her as punishment for her defiance.

_As long as they're safe, _She said to herself.

Rukia knew of the inevitability. Her grimly brother would find her someday, whether it could be today, tomorrow, or a day from now, it doesn't matter. She will be found. Byakuya's connections of that no bound they say. Somehow, Rukia didn't really care what happens to her next.

_As long as they're safe, _She repeated.

The coat she held over her head felt heavier, probably because of the crashing water unrelenting as it falls from the skies. The petite girl could leave where she sat. She could find shelter until the bad weather sets maybe. She decided against it. Just the thought of her getting another person involved in this, it was far enough.

_This is probably for the best…_

An echo of a shallow voice then lapsed from a distance. A voice that's all too familiar.

She got up from her bench seat, dropping the drenched coat from her hands unto the cold ground. The voice sounded once more, she was sure who it was, happy that she can hear it, but at the same time, afraid that it was there.

"No…it can't be." She muttered under her breath. Rukia glanced around, her fogged vision didn't bother to help, but she kept hearing the familiar voice.

A figure suddenly pierced through the showering rain. His familiar orange hair draped down on his longing face, Rukia's eyes grew wide in surprise and she felt her heart pound harder and harder, faster and faster, it didn't want to stop, why would it?

"I-I-Ichigo?"

And there he stood, his tall slender figure, his overwhelming presence that you'll feel nowhere else. His deep brown eyes connected to her pool blues. The orange-haired boy's unforgettable face was there but his scowl was surprisingly absent, only worry and concern, for her maybe?

"Rukia…" Ichigo said in between his breaths, he's been running for quite some time.

She was happy to see him, above everything else...But she knew what was the right thing to do at this point. "Y-You idiot…" Rukia replied as she looked down, her hands crunching up tightly into a fist. "You idiot, you're not suppose to be here!" she yelled with the anger in her voice accompanied by the sadness of her eyes.

The 15-year old boy didn't answer back. His eyes were fixed at her as he kept trying to catch his breath, his shoulders glancing up and down in rhythm.

"I ran away to protect you, to keep you from getting hurt, don't you understand?" Rukia continued, fighting the rally of emotions erupting inside her. She then looked away, thinking that it'd somehow ease the pain, but it didn't. "And here you are…Ichigo, please. Go now…before it's too late." She pleaded.

"No…" He replied simply, not moving, not even thinking twice.

"Then I'll leave." Rukia said. Finally turning around to return to the bench and gather her belongings. She took a single step and already it was like a jagged sword was taken to her heart. She already felt it once before, she can't believe that she felt it again…leaving him.

Ichigo grabbed the petite raven-haired girl's wrist, stopping her from continuing any further. She tugged once but he wouldn't let go, his grip was firm, solid, yet it didn't hurt. "Ichigo, let go." She ordered, tugging on her arm even more.

"No…" he gave the same reply, only this time he looked at her. She saw his eyes, they were determined and yet equally worrying. "Don't go…"

"I said let go!" She was starting to raise her voice and pulling harder and harder. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, although the rain was covering it. Ichigo then gently pulled back on her hand, enough to retrace the step she previously took. She fell back and felt herself land on his soft embrace.

"Rukia…I don't want you to leave. I'm not going to just let you walk out of my life. I don't want to let go." Ichigo said caringly, his arms circled around her. Rukia couldn't move. Her eyes still filled with tears, tears that were now trailing down her cheek on unto his shoulders as she hugged him back. Part of her kept saying that she should break away yet part of her wanted her to stay right where she was.

"Ichigo…"

_The rain felt like it wasn't there._

_Only him…_

_Only her…_

_Nothing else…_

After well deserved moments, they parted. Ichigo smiled back at her and she smiled back. "So…uh…does this mean you're staying?" The orange head asked, scratching the back of his head.

"I…don't know…I mean there's—"Rukia started but she then stopped.

Beams of light suddenly came into view, two of them, followed by the trailing of tire tracks pressing against the asphalt of the road. Something was coming their way. It was a black limousine, cruising by right next to the park entrance sidewalk. It soon caught up to them, nearly stopping right next to them to be exact. Their eyes grew wide in surprise…

They've seen this car before.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Man, it's late, and I mean REALLY late right now. You won't begin to imagine what my current condition is like. Tired, sleepy, disoriented, and to top it off I think I still got homework to finish up for tomorrow's school day.

Ok, ok, I guess I better be ending off kind of quick with this note. Same old agenda on you guys' part, please review, ok? Please review.

Peace out.


	27. Pains and Losses

A/N: Well this totally sucks, I keep trying to make it up to you guys by making an update at least a bit earlier but it seems that each time I give and go I always fail miserably. Anyways, I'm really sorry it's taking me two week intervals just to make a 1000 word chapter every time. I know it's a really long wait and I'm really sorry for that.

Darn it, things are just going…should I say it? Ok. Nightmarishly lately, yeah, life's been packed and it looks like I took one responsibility too many. To be honest, I haven't even been getting enough sleep lately.

To make matters worse, _Bleach _has stopped airing in the U.S. and has gone into temporary hiatus, looks like inspiration is also cut short on my resources.

Well, I really shouldn't get you guys mundanely involved in my private matters. Let alone, share my dismay to you guys. Completely ruining the mood, ok, how about I tell you guys something a bit more lighter, like…uh…oh yeah, I got _Uncharted: Drake's Fortune _over Thanksgiving, really awesome game.

And guess what? Here's the chapter already, w00t!

Chapter 27  
Pains and Losses

The rain has kept coming at it nonstop. Droplets of water, countless to say the least, has been falling from the clouded skies for quite a noticeable time. The lonesome city of Karakura, draped in the blue mist of the shower fogs…

In the deserted area of the public park, a shallow figure lay sprawled all over the puddle-filled asphalt. A tall, slender young man lying face down, barely conscious, he tries to stand up, pushing effort in his arms. He winced in pain and his body shook before eventually falling down back into place.

"Damn it…" Ichigo mumbled to himself in frustration, his voice hoaxed under the bruises he has suffered.

His orange hair sunk partly over his eyes, they were dripping wet as the rest of his figure. He twitched his palms as they lay flat on the ground as he did.

Ichigo mumbled once more under his breath, "Rukia…"

_It happened to so fast, I didn't even have time to think.  
__One second I finally find Rukia again…another second I found myself staggering across the cold sidewalk,_

Ichigo's eyes dimmed slightly. He was trying to remember what had transpired a couple of moments ago. How he ended up where he now lies…alone with nothing but his body's unyielding pain.

_We saw that black car…  
__It was the same black car…  
__Before we had time to get away, things were already far too late._

_I was so stupid, I should've moved faster.  
__I could've saved Rukia.  
__Now, I didn't even manage to save myself._

The orange-haired boy timidly slammed his fist against the ground with the last drops of his mustered energy. He was angry at himself, the anger itself manifesting over the bruises…dulling it out.

_The same three guys stepped out of the car.  
__Without wasting time at all, they grabbed Rukia by her arm and took her away.  
__I tried to stop them…  
__Really I tried…  
__Damn it, damn it all that it wasn't enough._

_They shoved Rukia into their car.  
__I saw her try to fight back as I ran straight towards them.  
__I heard her yell my name. She kept calling out to me.  
__And I called back._

Blurry images flashed across Ichigo's mind. He didn't bother to move anymore, as if it mattered. His clothes were soaked to its brim that it'd seem to blend right into the ground where he lay. Ichigo tasted blood. He knew where it came from. As he bit down his lips, he swallowed the diluted taste of his blood mixed in the hard rain.

_The three guys pulled me away from her.  
__My hand reached the knob of the car door where she was.  
__I saw her saddened face through the car glass window.  
__She was still calling out my name.  
__Next thing I knew, the bastards where already prying me off the car._

_They threw me right off the car and sent me rolling across the watered floor of the park entrance.  
__I was angry at them…I wanted to tear them apart.  
__Only the frozen image of Rukia behind the fogged car window reflected my eyes.  
__I swung a punch at one of the three bodyguards trying to hold me down._

_He staggered backwards and held his sore chin where my knuckles connected.  
__Strangely, I saw him look back to the car.  
__I could've sworn I saw Rukia's brother at the front passenger seat.  
__He nodded. I didn't know what it meant.  
__But next thing I knew the guards became fiercer._

_They started beating me down like a punching bag.  
__I tried fighting back, but the three of them against me alone wasn't such good odds.  
__They were strong and clearly larger than I am.  
__Still…I didn't give up.  
__Every punch they threw, I threw back at them.  
__But theirs hurt a lot more. Like a sledgehammer driven right through me._

_It wasn't long until my legs gave under me.  
__The three bastards were persistent._

_They started kicking me down.  
__I could've sworn I heard one of them say that they're trying to make sure I stay down.  
__I didn't bother to listen.  
__I kept trying to stand back up.  
__But each and every time, they'd plant their foot on my back,  
__Or snap their leg against my ribs.  
__It hurt…everything…  
__Even the thought that I was too weak to save Rukia…_

_After awhile they stopped.  
__I couldn't see them anymore.  
__My face was looking down on the cold ground.  
__I tried looking up, each timid movement cost me bitter pain.  
__I saw the three guys go back inside the car.  
__The engine revved and the black smoke blew from the muffler._

_They drove away from me…  
__Leaving me behind here...  
__The last thing I saw of the car was Rukia.  
__She was still looking from the car window.  
__I could see her tears dropping from the side of her face.  
__Her lips moved, I somehow got what she was trying to say to me,  
_"_Ichigo…please don't follow…just…forget about me."_

_And now here I am…  
__Still lying face down with the bruises under my drenched clothes…  
__I lost track of time…  
__And I still can't move…  
__I don't even know what I'm going to do anymore…_

Something then sounded from the not so distant. Ichigo couldn't make up what it was. Only that it was getting louder, as if slowly coming toward him.

The sound slowly became clear. It was wood clambering against the asphalt. It got louder…and louder…and then it stopped. A shadow cast over the orange-haired 15 year old.

Ichigo timidly looked up. His vision was starting to fade. He's used up the last of his stamina. All he could make up was a darkened silhouette under the same rain he was in. Then everything turned pitch black as he eventually lost consciousness.

"Tsk tsk tsk, got yourself in another bad fight, aye Mr. Kurosaki?" Urahara remarked, looking down on the unconscious adolescent. Umbrella in hand, he towered over him alongside Tessai.

Urahara crouched down. "My my, looks like you've taken quite a beating there." The blonde remarked as he lightly jabbed Ichigo's body with his cane.

"Do you wish me to take him back with us to shop, Boss?" Tessai asked politely.

"Please do so, Tessai." Urahara replied.

To Be Continued

A/N: Well thank goodness I managed to update at the least. My reviews are slowly dropping due to my inability to update any faster and I understand that. Nonetheless, reviews or no reviews I might as well finish this long sought fic.

Thank you for reading and staying along up until now. Review if you can. See you guys until the next chapter. (Which I pray to God will be a little bit earlier.)

Peace out.


	28. No More Denial

A/N: Man, I guess when I say "It's ok that you don't review" you guys really DO NOT review at all (some exception to some people) Well, got nobody else to blame but myself on that one. Hang on while I bang my head once against the computer table.

While I mercilessly bleed here, it hopefully won't distract you from reading the new chapter…ONWARD TO THE UPDATE!

(…and look, I even got a really cool Chapter title this time, eh?)

Chapter 28  
No More Denial

"_Ichigo…"_

"…_please don't follow…"_

"…_just…"_

"…_forget about me."_

"RUKIA!!!" Ichigo shouted as he immediately sat upright from whatever he was sleeping on. He was panting heavily with numerous beads of sweat edging down his face, like he just woke up from a horrific nightmare. Sometimes, he wished that it was _just _a nightmare.

Clearing his head and his throat, his breathing started to slow down, regaining his calm and composure before looking around to see where he was. It certainly wasn't the park anymore.

_Where the hell am I? _He thought to himself.

Ichigo found himself lying on a humble mat bed floored at the center of a Japanese-esque room. There was nobody else there except him and clear white sheets in wooden frames that closed him out on all four walls. Most notably, it was exceptionally quiet.

He tried to move out of the bed he awoken from to probably go and search for some answers, but the first turn of his body gave a cringing pain to his systems. He looked down and saw a number of bandages wrapped over his shirtless body, around his stomach, across his ribs, over his shoulder, and he even felt his face to see a patch on his cheek and a wrap around his forehead.

_That's right…_

Ichigo remembered he had just been beaten within an inch of his life. Crunching his bandaged hand into a tight fist, he lowered his head as he remembered all the pain that transpired earlier. _I failed to save her…_

"Ah, I'm glad to see that you're already awake." Ichigo heard somebody say as one of the walls slid sideways to reveal a door. A familiar shopkeeper entered the room, adjusting his casual green and white hat and looking the injured high school student straight in the eyes.

"Mr. Hat-and-Clogs…" Ichigo murmured.

"Now, would you save me the trouble and tell me what happened?" Urahara asked with a cocky grin as he crouched down to Ichigo's level. The orange-head simply turned the opposite way with his head still down. "Not in the mood to talk, eh?" The shopkeeper remarked, standing back up and swinging his cane about.

"I appreciate you saving me back there…" Ichigo then replied without making as of much as of eye contact, "…but I have to get going." He got up from his bed, ignoring the shots of pain in his shirtless body beneath the multitude of bandages.

Getting up, he immediately faced the open door where Urahara came from. Kisuke only smiled more, before blocking the orange-haired boy's way with his trusty cane. "I wouldn't be moving around in your condition there, Mr. Kurosaki." The shopkeeper remarked.

Ichigo pushed away the obstruction in his path. "I don't care, I have to get going." He repeated himself, his head still down.

"Where? Off to find Ms. Kuchiki again? Do you even have a clue where she is…or what you're getting yourself into?" Urahara said with a hint of personal sarcasm hidden somewhere in his cynical voice.

"I'll find her myself, even if I have to tear Karakura apart." Ichigo replied, the determination shivering in his eyes were unnerving to some, but not to Urahara, his grin didn't fade nor did it flinch.

Ichigo proceeded anyways, nearly reaching the door before he suddenly felt something hit hard against his ankle and consequently be pushed down into the ground. He winced in conclusive pain as he bumped his head and the rest of his injured bruises connected to the hard wood floor.

His vision cleared and saw Urahara looking down on him. It must've been him that took him down, and his cane must've had a part in it. The humble shopkeeper gave a rather sinister laugh and crouched down once again. His darkened eyes looked down upon the orange-haired boy, the brim of his hat partly covering them. "Let me get this straight, Mr. Kurosaki…" he said, "…you want to tiresomely search the city for your little friend, and let's say you do find her. Get your sorry little bum beaten up by the same agents that got you lying in my shop." He explained.

"I told you…I don't care!" Ichigo scowled back at him in reply.

"Hmm…ok then, sounds reasonable." Urahara mocked, a hand under his rough chin, "Let me ask you this then, why are you doing all this?"

The orange-head's eyes then shot wide open when the question rammed him right in the face. The question was relatively different, but to him, it felt like it was still the same question that's been haunting his indecisive thoughts the whole time. "B-because she doesn't belong there…" He replied with a more comfortable answer, a quick thought at the top of his mind. Somehow, it felt like a little white lie.

"Is that so? But isn't that her _real _home…aye, Mr. Kurosaki?" Urahara replied, his sarcasm as present as ever. Ichigo felt lost in words. The crafty shopkeeper had him played for dumb. "Tell me what the real reason is." Urahara asked.

"I don't know." Ichigo mumbled under his breath.

"Really? Strange, I think you _do _know…or at least, you don't _want _to know, is that right?" The owner of the Urahara shop remarked cynically. He then swung his cane about, and with unparalleled swiftness it connected to Ichigo's abdomen. The orange-head winced in pain as the pressure placed a cringing soreness in his bruises.

"Tell me, Ichigo, why do you care about Rukia so much?" Urahara continued in his barrage of questions. Ichigo just kept avoiding it though, so Urahara consequently pressured more on his cane, causing more pain to the teenager.

It was unnnerving, like Kisuke was literally forcing him to give an answer, but not just any answer. He wanted the truth. The truth that's been hiding deep in his subconscious. But now, it was inevitably being forced to come out of his comfort zone. The pain only continued, and Ichigo couldn't help but give his answer...

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER!!!" Ichigo then blurted out loud.

Urahara gave a rather cynical laugh after overhearing. He retracted his cane and stepped away, leaving room for Ichigo to breath and get back to his feet.

Ichigo still couldn't believe those words had just escaped his lips. It was purely instinctive, impulsive. His mind was being dulled by the end of the shopkeeper's staff at the moment. A hand on his head, he tried to reclaim his lost thoughts.

_Is that really how I feel about her? _He asked himself as if he doesn't know him anymore, unsure, uncertain.

Urahara walked back to him again and handed him a sly piece of paper that seemed like a map. "Follow the directions, you'll find the Kuchiki estate…what you'll do there is entire up to you, good luck." The shopkeeper exclaimed before turning about and heading out the same door they were fighting on earlier.

"Wait…" Ichigo called, stopping the mysterious blonde man. "…why are you doing this?"

"Let's just say, I can't have you troubling yourself in the middle of work, kind of bit of a drag for an employee of the month." Urahara replied, before eventually showing his guest to the exit. "I think you should be going now, aye?"

"Yeah…" Ichigo said with a new found sense of hope and determination, exceeding the one before. "…and I promise I'll bring Rukia back."

"Is that so?"

To Be Continued…

A/N: One of my best (and first…and only…) _Bleach _fic is nearly coming to a close. That's right people, the next chapter COULD mean the final curtain call and inevitable end for "A Chance Meeting" be sure to stick around to see what's going to happen to our orange headed hero.

Once again, thanks for reading with me this far and I hope I see you once again next time, and by the way, please review, ok? Please review this time, till' my next (and hopefully not last) update.

Peace out.


	29. One More Chance

A/N: Whoa, what a coincidence. My last fic of the year…literally! It's nearly the end of December and 2008 is only a few days away, a day to be exact (or less than even). Well, it sort of depends on what particular day you're reading this. Probably about one or two days after I posted it I guess.

If you're reading this particular Author's Note right now then let me just say thanks. It means that you've stayed with me this far and sucked in my laziness and procrastination in hopes of just finishing this God-forsaken fic. Again, many thanks and of course if you've sent me reviews, thanks for that too.

In this final chapter, let's hallmark the events that's happened throughout this story and hopefully this ever warmth collections of comebacks and flashbacks will lead Ichigo's footsteps to this romance's conclusion.

Final Chapter  
One More Chance

A man was streaking across the rain-scarred streets. It's been raining non-stop for a consecutive number of hours. And like the rain, the running man only seemed to push even further, even faster.

The map laid out for him by Kisuke Urahara embedded unto Ichigo's mind. He didn't even look twice at the brood piece of paper soaked under his rain dripping jacket. He couldn't care less, and only one single person occupied the cauldron that was his subconscious.

It was turning out like a grim fairytale, a pale gray layered over the emptied streets of Karakura. Ichigo's thoughts had rewind once more. Remembering how this all started, a comedic punch line off the face of a nearly cancelled Saturday cartoon.

"_LOOK OUT!" cried a girl riding her bicycle._

Call it destiny, call it fate, it happened and so it did. An accident that caused him to know the name, Rukia Kuchiki, a name he's seeking to rejoin with each hard step right now.

His wet hair got in his eyes, but he just jolted his head and swung it out of the way. The scowl in his face was reanimated into that of determination. Nothing escaped the coldness of his lips but chilling breaths as the orange-haired boy only continued in his path.

He remembered, from that day forth him and her started in this complicated friendship. Friends in the sense that they projected as bitter rivals, and yet, there was nothing they were rivaling for.

"_YOU CRAZY LITTLE BRAT TRYING TO RUN ME OVER!"  
_"_YOU INCONSIDERATE, UNGRATEFUL IDIOT!"  
_"_WHY YOU LITTLE?!"  
_"_WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE!"_

Coincidence wasn't enough to describe it as they found that the time they were spending with each other seemed to have no end. First at school, their friends always poked at them as a couple. Ichigo never listened; to him it always just your typical rude high school joke.

"_HEY! SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND, DAD!" Ichigo yelled out after over-hearing.  
_"_I'D RATHER DIE THAN TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS WEIRDO!" Rukia shouted out as well._

Ichigo made a sharp turn around a corner, as the map bolted in his noggin inscribed. He was still far from his destination. There were no busses in sight, not a taxi in view. Luck was against him for the past hours, even then he seemingly lost track of time itself since he slammed the door on his father's face. It didn't bother him, he'd run a thousand miles if he had to…just for her.

The flashbacks kept coming the more his heart and his breath raced on forward. He recalled that school soon followed them to work. All the years he's been working in the literally simple woodwork called the "Urahara Shop", things had never been more complicated since she came along. She needed money, he understood that, but she had a funny way of showing her sarcasm.

_Ichigo slapped his hand against his face leaving an imprint on it, realizing what he just did. "This isn't what I meant you know…" he scowled.  
_"_Well, you said I should get a job." Rukia pointed out.  
_"_Why here of all places?!" The orange-haired 15-year old complained. "That's the last time I'm giving you advice on something."_

He always used to think that their adventures wouldn't end. A fairytale as said earlier. And in time, Ichigo eventually grew fond of her, learning who she was, learning who himself is, and learning how to love.

For months he's denied it. Always felt it like a torn on his side that refuse to bleed out. His friends and family showered him with the signs like how the rain is doing so right now. But he didn't mind, blinded and oblivious.

Soon, the fairytale started to turn dark. Rukia's brother, Renji, and half the goons who were trying to deny her the life she always wanted. Rukia ran away from all that, and turned to the only sanctuary she has…him.

"_ARGHHHHH!!!" Ichigo screamed when a girl suddenly popped out of his closet. The thrill expression seemed like he just saw a ghost. But he then stopped after getting a good look of who it was. "R-Rukia?" he asked unsurely.  
_"_Ichigo, I can explain." Rukia said, hopping down from the roomy closet._

He thought it was fine at first, laughs and lies, jokes and cries, but she always feared the risk that they took. They'd find her eventually, both of them knew, still, Ichigo tried to keep a smile going on her bright face. She was drawing every step closer to him and him to her. Moment to moment grant them a quarter extension beats on their hearts.

Every dream has its own nightmares, like opposite sides of the coin. This one had its own too. They all saw it coming. Byakuya was garnering closer and closer, slowly following Rukia's runaway footsteps. Her cautious words ran through his ears.

"_Look, it's not that…" Rukia protested. "We can't hide from my brother forever, he's going to find me, and when he does…I just…I JUST DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU GET HURT!" her voice suddenly raised, the look on her face seem like she was fighting herself from shedding a tear._

These past couple of hours had nothing but been painful he thought. Ichigo still reckoned the bandages that were that's keeping him together in one piece. But he didn't care, he just wants to reach the Kuchiki estate, to him, it's all that matters now.

Ichigo was getting closer. The road on the map was already coming to a close. As he kept running further, the memories rattling in his mind of discontent only tangled itself even more. Shards of everlasting thoughts weaving together as the pieces start connecting. All these memories of her, slowly coming together and giving him strength to push on forward without hesitation…

He remembered the fragile day he ran into her.  
He remembered the near bedside moment he found out her name.  
He remembered meeting with her in school for the first time.  
He remembered going to work with her for the first time.  
He remembered her visiting over to his house.  
He remembered her stowing away in his closet.  
He remembered the night she ran away.  
He remembered how he found her once more in the park.  
He remembered fighting just to stay with her.  
He remembered all the memories they shared.  
He remembered loving her forever more.

And then everything stopped for one second. And only simple thought remained in the orange-haired boy's mind.

_I love her. It's all there is to it. _He thought solemnly.  
_All I ask now…  
is one more chance…  
just one…  
one last chance to be with her…_

A draft iron gate met the hasting Ichigo. He looked beyond the bars and saw a high-class mansion, its outer walls glowing white under the gritting gray rain. This was it, everything comes down to this.

Ichigo heard the gate rattle about as somebody turned it open. Coincidentally, a guard was just leaving the estate. Sunglasses and a black suit, the guard cursed under his breath due to the fact that bad weather accompanied him. The guard then noticed Ichigo was standing right in front of him and the gate he had laid open.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here, ki—"He didn't finish his threat as in a flash, he was sent to the cold hard ground unconscious. Ichigo shook and gripped his right hand after the quick swing he made before passing through the gates.

Meanwhile, inside…

Rukia sat silent around the long rectangular dinning table that centered the large room she was in, her head down in shame and dismay. Like a typical setting of a rich family, the classy lights lit the walls as if it was gold. There was nobody else on the table, say for her and her cold and quiet brother.

This is was how dinner was to her every night. The plates may be upper class and socially over-done, the food may be made to the fine, but she never really enjoyed it. To be honest, the only real family dinner she had was the time she was with Ichigo and his family. Sure, the plates may be plain white and scratched, the food may be moderately simple and sufficient quantity, but it had what this didn't…the "family" part.

"Something wrong?" Rukia heard her brother ask in a tone more stale than a biscuit left out for hours. She just looked down on her plate, couldn't match the right words in her mouth to form the reply.

Byakuya pictured the trouble demur on his younger sister. He knew the problem, yet he didn't bother to seek a solution…at least not now. "We'll deal with your punishment tomorrow." He followed his earlier question.

The quiet dinner was suddenly broken when the double doors from behind Byakuya's chair swung open and a random guard walked in with a slight bad news. "Sir, we have a problem." The guard reported, garnering the attention of the stern head of the household.

"Speak of it then." Byakuya remarked.

"There's this young man who trespassed into our property. He attacked some of our men and is refusing to leave." He explained distressingly, fearing both the presence of his boss and his own incompetence in front of him.

"Ichigo." Rukia muttered upon overhearing from the side of the table as she stood from her seat in surprise, knowing all too well who else would have the guts to break in to their home.

Byakuya then rose from his seat but not after giving the raven-haired girl a darting look. He straightened his high class dark coat and jacket before having the same guard lead him to the entrance grounds. "No matter, I'll handle him myself." He remarked darkly.

Back outside…

Ichigo stood firmly outside the freezing cold rain shower as his feet were planted solid down in the middle of the front entrance. The decorative plants and flowers bordering his surroundings were flustered and soaked under the heavy unforgiving rain.

The front double doors opened creaking, revealing non other than Byakuya Kuchiki, a cold yet vigilant glare aimed straight at the orange-haired boy abiding his property. Two guards accompanied him on both sides, Ichigo simply guttered at his form of cowardice.

"Your persistence is starting to get on my nerves, boy, leave…at once." Byakuya said intimidating.

"Is that so? Well I'm sorry to turn you down, but I'm not leaving here without Rukia." Ichigo replied, his determination ever brewing, limitlessly burning through his drenched form.

"Watch your mouth, boy. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Don't you understand? At the snap of my fingers, my men will swarm the courtyard and beat you within an inch of your after-life." Byakuya threatened.

"I don't care! I'll walk out of here with Rukia by my side even if my body is torn apart." Ichigo shouted back.

"So let me understand, you'd do anything for her?" Byakuya asked one more time.

"…even my soul." Ichigo replied. His words shot Byakuya's eyes open, but before the two could continue Rukia's voice suddenly echoed from behind him.

"ICHIGO NO! GET OUT OF HERE…GO!" Rukia called out alarmingly, fearful of what may happen to the orange-haired young man if he prolonged this any further. She was suddenly held back by one of the guards, preventing her from going outside.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo said, finally seeing her face once more. "LET HER GO, DAMN IT!"

Byakuya's attention shifted back to him. A raised his hand, as if preparing to give out a command to his henchmen. His glare at Ichigo was unnerving, not a hint of hesitation in his face nor his gesture.

Rukia knew what her brother was about to do next. When his hand goes down, all of the guards in the whole estate are going to come after Ichigo. He'll be ripped apart but she's aware that Ichigo wouldn't stop. His will was unbreakable. She fears that his fortitude to reach her would lead to his own demise. And she can't stand to see him get hurt a second time.

"BROTHER PLEASE DON'T!" she screamed.

…and then Byakuya gave the green light.

"Let Rukia go…" Byakuya instructed.

"W-what?" Ichigo asked if he heard it right. Even Rukia herself was bewildered of what her demented brother had just ordered. She felt the guard let his hold of her go and an innocent face with a trouble question she handed to Byakuya.

"Go to him if you wish…" Byakuya said as he turned about and was already preparing to head back inside. "…just don't think I'll be this forgiving in the future." He added. The raven-haired girl lit up with a smile, she hasn't seen this side of her brother. Although it was rare to her, perhaps she thought wrong of him all these years.

Renewed and rejoiced, Rukia ran towards Ichigo, she too getting caught in the long sought rain. Ichigo couldn't help but smile whole-heartedly seeing his last wish granted. He caught the running girl in open arms as they circled into embrace.

Something he's wanted to do ever since they were separated…

Hold her in his arms.

A/N: No Author's Note here, check the Epilogue to see my final remarks.


	30. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Sure is glad to see the bad weather pass, aye Tessai?" Urahara commented as he was sitting comfortably in a lawn chair laid right outside of his shop. It was true. The continuous rain has subsided with no other trace than the soiled streets of the city.

"Yes, truly is, boss." Tessai replied, standing as tall as he always does next to the shop owner.

Urahara then titled his hat, as his shadowed eyes caught two figures forming in the distance. "About time those two got here." He mumbled to himself with his usual grin.

The silhouettes under the sun revealed themselves to be none other than Ichigo and Rukia, in their school uniforms, preparing to start their usual shift after an average day from High School. "Just getting our shift started Hat-and-Clogs." Ichigo remarked with his usual scowl, while Rukia was just tagging along behind him with a solemn smile.

The two went inside to more important matters, leaving their employer and his assistant outside to their sunshine breeze.

Urahara snagged a glimpse back as Ichigo and Rukia were making their way inside. He smirked as to what he saw:

They were holding hand in hand.

The blonde shop owner then faced forward and eased steadily back unto his chair. "Don't you just love happy endings?" Kisuke asked Tessai.

"Ofcourse." Tessai replied, his sunglasses shinning vibrantly in agreement.

**ACHOO!!! **Urahara suddenly sneezed out of the bloom. His nose dripping with snot before he properly wiped it clean with a handkerchief.

"Whoa, looks like you're coming down with some sort of cold, boss." Tessai remarked concerning.

"Nah, it's probably just some hot girl thinking about me somewhere."

THE END

A/N: Yeah, it's custom for me to always do epilogues for my fics. Well, that's it you guys. "The End" it's been a long ride and man what a ride that was. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it (despite some minor setbacks) Anyways, please review, ok?

Again, many thanks for sticking around 'till the very end, really means a lot to me that a reader is really into my work.

Hopefully, I'll be making more _Bleach _fanfics in the near future as more and more inspirations arise. I guess this is goodbye for now.

Peace out you guys.


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